TI, Tiny awarded $71 million in MGA-OMG doll lawsuit

Musicians TI and Tiny won tens of millions of dollars this week in an intellectual property battle against toy company MGA Entertainment and its line of original OMG Fashion dolls.

On Monday, jurors awarded hip-hop couples Grand Hustle and Pretty Hustle 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. The combined awards total more than $71 million.

TI and Tiny alleged in a 2021 counterclaim that MGA Entertainment (the parent company of Little Tikes and Bratz) took the look of its OMG Fashion dolls from OMG Girlz, a group Tiny founded in 2009. Since their formation, OMG Girlz have performed and released music under the hip-hop duo’s banner. The musicians — whose real names are Clifford Harris Jr. and Tameka Harris — alleged that the group’s “unique fashion design, visual image, and hairstyle were copied by OMG Dolls MGA” and without “any compensation, credit, or consent” from the trio’s creators.

The 2021 counterclaim features side-by-side photos of MGA’s OMG dolls and members of the OMG Girlz band, showing similarities in their concert outfits and brightly colored hairstyles.

In 2010, MGA announced plans to introduce a line of dolls based on the girl group “Where the Boys At?”, but the toy company never entered into an agreement with Grand Hustle or Pretty Hustle, according to the counterclaim. MGA introduced 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 ended in a victory for MGA, but the “Live Your Life” rapper and Xscape star was granted a retrial in September 2023. The third and final trial began earlier this month in a federal courtroom in Santa Ana, California, and lasted three weeks.

“They did more than I thought they would,” Tiny said in a statement to Rolling Stone, which first reported the verdict. “I would have been happy with anything. They blessed us more than ever. We wanted to thank the jurors so much, but we didn’t have the chance.”

TI told the magazine, “We’re just happy that we were able to prevail and fight for the creators and our intellectual property, which large corporations apparently consider to be public domain and anyone can freely take over and use.”

OMG Girlz (now Zonnique Pullins, Bahja Rodriguez and Breaunna Womack) opened up to TMZ about their years-long battle against MGA’s “illegal appropriation” of their image, adding that they are grateful to the jury.

“We hope this case will make companies think twice before taking an artist’s intellectual property without their consent,” the group said, echoing TI’s sentiment.

Legal representatives for MGA Entertainment did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment on Tuesday.

Times researcher Scott Wilson assisted in preparing this report.