Atlanta rapper Clifford ‘T.I.’ Harris and partner Tameka ‘Tiny’ Harris could also be headed to one more jury trial towards a toy firm they accuse of ripping off their OMG Girlz pop group.
Within the newest improvement in a case that’s been operating for 5 years, a federal courtroom decide in California lowered the award a jury granted to T.I., Tiny and OMG Girlz final fall by three quarters.
The jury had awarded the artists $17.8 million in precise damages and $53.6 million in punitive damages, for a complete award of round $71.5 million. In an order issued on Tuesday (July 8), Decide James V. Selna lowered the punitive damages to $1, successfully slicing the overall award by 75%.
Decide Selna dominated that the jury’s awarding of punitive damages was incorrect as a result of the artists’ attorneys had not confirmed that toy firm MGA Leisure’s infringement was “willful.”
Per the decide’s order, T.I. and Tiny now have the selection of accepting the lowered award, or requesting a brand new jury trial. They’ve two weeks to file a response with the courtroom.
It’s unclear which choice the artists will select, however Decide Selna, in his order, which may be learn in full right here, famous that in earlier oral arguments, the artists had mentioned they might reject a lowered fee and return earlier than a jury.
The authorized battle started in 2020, when T.I. and Tiny accused MGA Leisure of ripping off the woman group they’d developed and launched, OMG Girlz, with a line of toy dolls dubbed LOL Shock! OMG, which MGA launched in 2019. They mentioned the dolls clearly copied the OMG Girlz’ style and hairstyles.
Following a cease-and-desist letter from T.I. and Tiny’s attorneys, MGA Leisure sued the artists in 2020, alleging that their declare that the OMG dolls infringed on OMG Girlz had broken their enterprise. T.I. and Tiny countersued in 2021, accusing MGA of infringement of copyright.
This led to no fewer than three jury trials. The primary, held in early 2023, ended with Decide Selna declaring a mistrial, after jurors heard an argument that MGA’s actions amounted to “cultural appropriation” of Black tradition – an argument that the decide barred from the jury trial.
“There was no dependable proof that MGA had any information of the group’s commerce costume or need to make use of their likeness to create the infringing dolls.”
Decide James V. Selna
The second trial, held later in 2023, ended with a victory for MGA. Nonetheless, the artists’ got depart to re-try the case after a US Supreme Court docket ruling – in an unrelated case – which restricted the liberty of expression protection in IP infringement circumstances.
The third trial, held over three weeks in September 2024, noticed MGA’s founder, Isaac Larian, testify that that OMG Girlz performed no function within the improvement of the LOL Shock! OMG dolls, and known as the three members of OMG Girlz “extortionists.”
The trial ended with the jury siding with the artists and awarding them the $71.5 million.
In his order overturning that award, Decide Selna wrote that whereas MGA’s designers “misplaced credibility” throughout the trial once they tried to “clarify away” apparent similarities between their dolls and sure celebrities – for example, a doll known as Piano King that “clearly appears like Elton John” – the proof nonetheless “falls in need of clear and convincing” with regards to the OMG Girlz.
“There was no dependable proof that MGA had any information of the group’s commerce costume or need to make use of their likeness to create the infringing dolls,” Decide Selna wrote.
“The robust look that MGA copied different celebrities doesn’t present clear and convincing proof that such was the case for the OMG Girlz.”
Underneath these circumstances, per California legislation, an award of punitive damages is inappropriate, the decide concluded. “Subsequently, the jury’s verdict on punitive damages can’t be sustained.”
“If in the long run there may be one other mini-trial on simply the punitive damages, we count on one other jury will likely be equally offended by MGA’s maliciousness and copying.”
John Keville, Sheppard Mullin
A lawyer for the artists, John Keville of legislation agency Sheppard Mullin, instructed Rolling Stone in a press release that T.I. and Tiny plan to “reject” the $1 in punitive damages and the authorized staff are “contemplating [their] choices as to subsequent steps.”
Nonetheless, “if in the long run there may be one other mini-trial on simply the punitive damages, we count on one other jury will likely be equally offended by MGA’s maliciousness and copying,” Keville said.
“The courtroom’s order confirms what the jury discovered, that there was greater than adequate proof to search out MGA wrongly misappropriated and infringed the OMG Girlz’ rights.”
The OMG Girlz have been shaped in 2009, composed of Bahja “Magnificence” Rodriguez, Breaunna “Babydoll” Womack, and Tiny’s daughter, Zonnique “Star” Pullins.
The group disbanded in 2015, however reunited in 2023, releasing Lover Boy, their first single in over a decade. In 2024 they toured with Xscape and SWV as a part of the Queens of R&B Tour, and in March of this yr they launched a follow-up single, Make a Scene.Music Enterprise Worldwide
