A judge is no longer considering retracting a multi-million-dollar award that rapper T.I. and Tameka “Tiny” Harris were to receive from a lawsuit.
As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the couple sued children’s toy company MGA Entertainment Inc. for infringing upon the name, image, and likeness of their girl group, OMG Girlz. The group was created by T.I. and Tiny in 2009 and includes members Bahja Rodriguez (Miss Beauty), Breaunna Womack (Miss Babydoll), and their daughter Zonnique Pullins (Miss Star). Known for their colorful hair, makeup, and fashion looks, the group peaked in 2012 with their singles “Where The Boys At?” and “Gucci This (Gucci That).”
MGA Entertainment Inc. released its ‘L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G. (Outrageous Millennial Girls) Dolls in 2019, earning hundreds of millions of dollars in the process, and was recognized with the Toy Association’s Doll of the Year Award, notes American Bar Association (ABA). Some of its dolls, however, had closely resembled the OMG Girlz group members, as determined by a federal jury in California.
The matter then made its way to court following a cease and desist letter in 2022. MGA Entertainment Inc. responded to the letter with a lawsuit, which T.I. and Tiny countered as they believed the toy company participated in “cultural appropriation and outright theft of the intellectual property,” per ABA.
In September 2024 after an initial mistrial in 2023, T.I. and Tiny were awarded $71 million in damages, which consisted of $17.9 million in actual damages and $53.6 million in punitive damages, as AFROTECH™ previously reported.
“We did this for the city. We did this for the culture and it was a fight. It was a hell of a fight. This fight done started in 2020 and it’s now ’24 and we couldn’t be more happy,” Tiny said in a video.
T.I. and Tiny’s celebration was nearly cut short in January 2025 after it was announced the federal judge on the case was considering reducing the awarded damages from $71 million to $17.8 million due to insufficient evidence of the company operating in bad faith.
In the most recent updates, it appears the judge has once again had a change of heart. In a Feb. 3 court filing shared by Southern California Independent Reporter Meghann Cuniff on X, it shows the judge will honor the $71 million award.
“Upon consideration of the evidence, the Court grants disgorgement of profits of $17,872,252 under common law misappropriations, and affirms the jury’s award of punitive damage of $53,616,759. With regard to the Lanham Act, the Court declines to disgorge profits or enhance the awards,” statements from the legal filing read.
