An award allocated to T.I. and Tameka \u201cTiny\u201d Harris surrounding OMG Girlz has been reduced.<\/p>\n
As AFROTECH\u2122<\/a> previously told you, the couple, who co-founded the OMG Girlz group \u2014 made up of Bahja \u201cBeauty\u201d Rodriguez, Breaunna \u201cBabydoll\u201d Womack, and the Harrises\u2019 daughter Zonnique \u201cStar\u201d Pullins \u2014 had sued doll maker MGA Entertainment Inc. The pair alleged that MGA released its L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G. (Outrageous Millennial Girls) dolls collection in 2016 using the name, image, and likeness<\/a> of the girl group. The couple was awarded<\/a> $71 million from a jury that included $17.9 million in actual damages and $53.6 million in punitive damages in September 2024.<\/p>\n By January 2025, a judge considered reducing the amount but ultimately decided against it and stayed with the original decision<\/a> in the case, allowing the couple to maintain the full amount awarded. It appears in the latest update that another judge has disagreed with the verdict. Rolling Stone reported<\/a> on July 9, U.S. District Court Judge James V. Selna ruled that the $17.9 million in actual damages could remain in place, but that evidence did not show \u201cdeliberate intent\u201d or support the $53.6 million granted for punitive damages. He said the \u201cmaximum punitive damages award sustainable by the proof is $1.\u201d Thus, they could take the $17.9 million plus $1 or move forward with a new trial.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was no reliable evidence that MGA had any knowledge of the group\u2019s trade dress or desire to use their likeness to create the infringing dolls,\u201d Judge Selna wrote in a 33-page ruling, per the outlet. \u201cThe strong appearance that MGA copied other celebrities does not provide clear and convincing evidence that such was the case for the OMG Girlz.\u201d<\/p>\n In response to the verdict, Tiny said, \u201cAt the end of the day, the evidence showed [MGA] stole from us. They stole from our creation. I\u2019m glad we stuck with it. No one could tell me they did not steal from us.\u201d<\/p>\n T.I. added:<\/p>\n \u201cI think justice was served. I think it\u2019s a testament to the relentlessness and resilience of my wife, daughter, and nieces. We\u2019re just happy we were able to come out on top and fight for creatives<\/a> and our intellectual property<\/a> that large corporations seem to think is just public domain and free for all to come and grab and use.\u201d<\/p>\n Both T.I. and Tiny have been given a two-week deadline to share how they wish to proceed with the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An award allocated to T.I. and Tameka \u201cTiny\u201d Harris surrounding OMG Girlz has been reduced. As AFROTECH\u2122 previously…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88],"class_list":["post-4200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}