Musicians T.I. and Tiny secured a payday worth tens of millions of dollars this week in their intellectual property battle against toy company MGA Entertainment and its line of quirky OMG Fashion dolls.
Jurors on Monday awarded the hip-hop couple’s Grand Hustle and Pretty Hustle businesses and teen pop trio OMG Girlz $17.9 million in compensatory damages and $53.6 million in punitive damages, according to documents reviewed by The Times. That’s a total win of more than $71 million.
T.I. and Tiny alleged in a 2021 counterclaim that MGA Entertainment (parent company of Little Tikes and Bratz) lifted the looks for its OMG Fashion dolls from OMG Girlz, the group Tiny formed in 2009. Since its founding, OMG Girlz has performed and released music under the hip-hop couple’s businesses. The musicians — whose real names are Clifford Harris Jr. and Tameka Harris — alleged the group’s “unique fashion design, visual image and hair style [was] copied by MGA’s OMG Dolls” and without “any compensation, recognition or consent” from the trio’s creators.
The 2021 counterclaim included side-by-side photos of MGA’s OMG dolls and the members of OMG Girlz, showing similarities in concert outfits and vibrant hairstyles.
In 2010, MGA had announced plans to launch a doll line modeled after the “Where the Boys At?” girl group, but the toy company never reached a deal with Grand Hustle or Pretty Hustle, the counterclaim said. MGA launched its OMG Fashion Dolls in 2019, allegedly “copying the unique name, image and trade dress of OMG Girlz.”
The case initially went to trial in January 2023 but ended in a mistrial. A second trial began last May and saw MGA emerge victorious, but the “Live Your Life” rapper and Xscape star were granted a retrial in September 2023. The third and final trial began earlier this month in a federal courtroom in Santa Ana, Calif., and lasted for three weeks.
“They did more than I thought they would,” Tiny said in a statement to Rolling Stone, which first reported on the verdict. “I would have been happy with whatever. They blessed us more than beyond. We wanted to thank the jurors so bad, but we didn’t get the opportunity.”
T.I. told the magazine: “We’re just happy we were able to come out on top and fight for creatives and our intellectual property that large corporations seem to think is just public domain and free for all to come and grab and use.”
The current roster of the OMG Girlz — from left, Bahja Rodriquez, Breaunna Womack and Zonnique Pullins — performs in July 2012.
(Bill Haber / Invision / Associated Press)
OMG Girlz (currently Zonnique Pullins, Bahja Rodriguez and Breaunna Womack) spoke to TMZ about their years-long battle against MGA’s “unlawful appropriation” of their likeness, adding they are grateful for the jury.
“We hope this case makes companies think twice about taking an artist’s intellectual property without their permission,” the group said, echoing T.I.’s sentiment
Legal representatives for MGA Entertainment did not immediately respond to The Times request for comment Tuesday.
Times researcher Scott Wilson contributed to this report.