T.I. and his spouse Tameka “Tiny” Harris had been awarded a whopping $71 million in a lawsuit towards a toy firm that was discovered to have violated their mental property.
The couple had been awarded $17.9 million in actual damages and $53.6 million in punitive damages throughout a jury verdict Monday, September 23, in a Santa Ana, California, courtroom, studies Rolling Stone.
T.I. and Tiny’s attorneys efficiently argued that MGA Leisure, the makers of the favored L.O.L. Shock miniature dolls, infringed upon the likeness and commerce gown of their lady group, OMG Girlz, and misappropriated the Atlanta band’s title for its O.M.G. line of toys.
T.I. and Tiny fashioned the OMG Girlz in 2009 as a star car for his or her daughter, Zonnique “Star” Pullins, who’s one-third of the band alongside Bahja “Magnificence” Rodriguez and Breaunna “Babydoll” Womack.
“I feel justice was served. I feel it’s a testomony to the relentlessness and resilience of my spouse, daughter and nieces,” T.I. advised Rolling Stone Monday after the decision was delivered.
“We’re simply comfortable we had been in a position to come out on high and struggle for creatives and our mental property that giant firms appear to suppose is simply public area and free for all to come back and seize and use,” the “Reside Your Life” rapper added.
Tiny, a member of the Nineteen Nineties lady group Xscape, advised the outlet: “I imply, wow. They did greater than I assumed they might. I’d have been proud of no matter. They blessed us greater than past. We needed to thank the jurors so unhealthy, however we didn’t get the chance.”
The three-week trial marked the third time the couple tried to sue MGA. Their first try and take MGA to court docket in January 2023 resulted in a mistrial. The couple misplaced their second trial in Could 2023 however had been granted a retrial in September 2023.
The jury dominated Monday that seven of the L.O.L. Shock O.M.G. dolls infringed the likeness and commerce gown of the OMG Girlz. In the course of the trial, T.I. referred to as out MGA over what he described as “undeniably blatant” infringement. The couple’s attorneys argued that the seven dolls copied outfits the OMG Girlz wore for stay performances and in images.
“You’ll be able to maintain them as much as these footage and see. Anybody with eyes can see that this image influenced this doll,” T.I. testified on September 6.
MGA’s billionaire founder Isaac Larian denied throughout testimony that the dolls’ designs had been impressed by the OMG Girlz and referred to as T.I., Tiny and the lady group “extortionists,” per Rolling Stone.