When did T.I. and Tiny win their lawsuit against MGA Entertainment? Couple awarded $71.5M in punitive damages

T.I. and Tiny Harris won their $71 million lawsuit against MGA Entertainment in September 2024. However, the amount of punitive damages was later questioned by the presiding judge.

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On February 3, US District Judge James Selna ruled to uphold the jury's September 2024 verdict, which included $17.8 million in profits from the dolls and an additional $53,616,759 in punitive damages. Judge Selna sided with the Harrises regarding the $17.8 million profit award and rejected MGA's argument that overhead costs should reduce the amount.

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What we know about T.I and Tiny's lawsuit against MGA Entertainment

MGA launched the "L.O.L Surprise!" line of dolls in December 2016. The idea was to capitalize on the "unboxing" trend on YouTube at the time, and the L.O.L dolls became the ultimate unboxing experience, becoming the top-selling doll in the country with more than 2.5 million units sold.

T.I. and Tiny had founded a now-defunct teen pop group, OMG Girlz, which included Harris' daughter, Zonnique Pollins, Bahja "Beauty" Rodriguez, and Breaunna "Babydoll" Wommack. The couple alleged that MGA Entertainment engaged in "cultural appropriation and outright theft" by using the likeness of the OMG Girlz for their line of collectible dolls.

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Throughout the trial, the three original members of the OMG Girlz reportedly testified that the MGA dolls were copied from the band members' looks from public events. The couple's attorney cited social media posts from fans who assumed that the band inspired the dolls for their similarity.

In 2020, MGA Entertainment filed a lawsuit asking for a declaratory judgment stating that its "L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G" dolls did not violate any IP rights belonging to the OMG Girlz after a cease-and-desist from the group.

The OMG Girlz, Tiny and T.I. then went on to file counterclaims, and the first trial took place in January 2023. However, a mistrial was declared on the grounds that disallowed testimony accusing the entertainment company of cultural appropriation. The second trial sided with MGA, with the judge later granting OMG Girlz's request for a retrial.

The entertainment company had denied allegations of infringement and misappropriation throughout the trial. Paul J. Loh, one of the company's lawyers, called the claims "baseless and offensive" in his closing arguments, noting that the company had sold more than 40 million L.O.L dolls without the customer drawing parallels to the teen group.

As per reports, Tameka Harris, or Tiny, expressed her joy following the February 3, 2025 ruling and referred to the case as "third time's the charm."