After first trial ended by mistrial, a jury finds that MGA Entertainment’s dolls did not steal the OMG Girlz’ look
T.I. and Tiny have lost their copyright infringement lawsuit against the L.O.L. Surprise! doll maker MGA Entertainment, as a jury ruled in favor of the toymaker on Friday.
The rapper (real name Clifford Harris) and Tiny (Tameka Cottle) initially sued MGA Entertainment for allegedly stealing the name, likeness, and trade dress of OMG Girlz — the pop trio Tiny founded in 2009 — when the company launched its “L.O.L. Surprise OMG” dolls in 2019.
The case first went to trial in January, but a mistrial was declared after T.I. and Tiny’s lawyer — who was previously warned about arguing that the toymakers “misappropriate the likeness of Black female artists” — accused MGA of “racist cultural appropriation.”
The $100 million lawsuit went back to trial this month, and after arguments related to 31 potentially infringing dolls were made, the jury ultimately needed less than two hours to rule in favor of MGA Entertainment, Legal Affairs and Trials reported.
Following the verdict, MGA CEO Isaac Larian called T.I. and Tiny’s lawsuit a “shakedown.” “I’m not happy because I wasted a lot of time, energy — my employees’ time, energy — to deal with an extortion,” Larian said. “They knew from the beginning they don’t have a case, and they brought it anyways. And they picked on the wrong guy.” (Larian also quipped that he’d celebrate his victory by “going to go buy a yellow dress and color my hair pink,” a nod to one of the dolls in question.)
While their legal battle with T.I. has ended, MGA’s war over the Black Eyed Peas rages on: Back in January, BMG sued the toymaker, alleging that a jingle dubbed “My Poops” — used to market a line of slime-shitting unicorns — infringed on its copyright to the Black Eyed Peas’ 2006 hit, “My Humps.”
