T.I. & Tiny Awarded Massive Settlement In O.M.G. Dolls Lawsuit Victory

A California federal jury awarded Clifford “T.I.” Harris and Tameka “Tiny” Harris more than $17.8 million in the couple’s lawsuit against MGA Entertainment, the company that makes O.M.G. Dolls. According to Law360, the jury determined seven of the company’s O.M.G. Dolls infringed the trade dress and misappropriated the name, likeness or identity of the OMG Girlz pop group T.I. co-owns.

It’s a huge victory for the couple considering they initially lost the jury trial in May 2023. The jury came to its conclusion following six hours of deliberation over two days and found the infringement was “willful.” They also agreed with the Harrises that the misappropriation was “done with malice, oppression or fraud.” The court will next decide punitive damages on infringement.

At one point during the latest trial, which began on September 3, Tip told the jury “anyone with eyes” can see the obvious similarities between the dolls and the group. This time, the jury agreed.

Throughout each trial, MGA argued that its designers were oblivious to the OMG Girlz and never would have copied from the group. The OMG Girlz never released an album but racked up more than 50 million YouTube views and appeared on the Harris’ reality shows from roughly 2010-2015. Meanwhile, the OMG Dolls were released in 2019 and became an instant success, with millions in sales—but it didn’t take long for the Harrises to act.

MGA received a cease-and-desist letter from the Harrises in December 2020. In turn, MGA filed its own lawsuit asking the court to rule that the doll line didn’t copy the OMG Girlz’s name, image or trade dress. The Harrises countersued MGA CEO Isaac Larian, alleging infringement of trade dress and misappropriation of name or likeness, among other claims.

T.I. nor Tiny have commented publicly on their massive victory. AllHipHop reached out for a statement but didn’t hear back as of publication time.