A federal jury has declined to award T.I. and Tameka “Tiny” Harris punitive damages in their trade dress fight with toy company MGA Entertainment.
The jury in Santa Ana, California, found on Wednesday (July 1) that MGA had not acted with malice, ending the couple’s push for punitive damages, according to court records.
Their recovery is now capped at the USD $17.9 million in compensatory damages that a separate jury awarded in September 2024.
T.I. and Tiny had returned to court to try to restore $53.6 million in punitive damages that a judge stripped from that verdict last year.
Lawyers for the couple, led by John Keville, Chante Westmoreland and Robert Green, confirmed the result in a statement to Rolling Stone.
“We appreciate the jury’s time and consideration but are disappointed in the verdict,” the lawyers told Rolling Stone.
“We proved malice once and believe that had this jury had the benefit of the three weeks of evidence the last jury saw, they too would have found punitives appropriate.
“It’s clear from the evidence that MGA‘s policies are inadequate to prevent this type of IP infringement, and their document retention and collection procedures are equally as suspect.”
lawyers for T.I. and Tiny (via Rolling Stone)
“It’s clear from the evidence that MGA‘s policies are inadequate to prevent this type of IP infringement, and their document retention and collection procedures are equally as suspect.
“We will continue to fight for our clients’ rights and the rights of all creatives.”
The verdict came in the fourth trial of a legal fight that began in 2020 and has run for nearly six years.
MGA launched its L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G. doll line in 2019, and T.I. and Tiny have said they learned of it only when fans pointed out the resemblance to OMG Girlz.
The couple’s lawyers sent MGA a cease-and-desist letter in December 2020.
MGA responded by suing them first, asking a court to declare that its dolls did not infringe the group’s rights.
T.I. and Tiny, together with their OMG Girlz and Grand Hustle companies, countersued in 2021 over the trade dress and the name, image and likeness of the group.
The case, MGA Entertainment Inc. v. Clifford “T.I.” Harris et al, went to trial three times before this year.
The first trial, in early 2023, ended in a mistrial after jurors heard an argument that MGA‘s conduct amounted to “cultural appropriation,” which Judge James V. Selna had barred.
A second trial later in 2023 cleared MGA, but that verdict was set aside after a 2023 US Supreme Court ruling narrowed the free-speech defense in trademark cases.
At the third trial, held over three weeks in September 2024, founder Isaac Larian testified that OMG Girlz played no role in the design of the dolls and called the group’s members “extortionists.”
The jury found that MGA had willfully infringed the group’s trade dress with seven of its dolls and awarded the couple $71.5 million.
That sum comprised $17.9 million in actual damages, matching the profits from the seven dolls, plus $53.6 million in punitive damages.
In July 2025, Judge Selna cut the punitive award to $1, ruling that the couple had not shown “clear and convincing evidence” that the infringement was willful.
T.I. and Tiny rejected the reduced figure, which set up the fourth trial on the question of punitive damages alone.
The Ninth Circuit declined to take up MGA‘s attempt to appeal the retrial order in January, and the fourth trial opened last month.
MGA, based in Chatsworth, California, is the company behind Bratz, Little Tikes and the L.O.L. Surprise! franchise.
Larian has said MGA’s L.O.L. Surprise! range pushed the privately held company past $5 billion in retail sales in 2019, when the O.M.G. dolls debuted — a sell-through figure he has set against the $4.72 billion and $4.5 billion in revenues that Hasbro and Mattel, respectively, booked that year.
The O.M.G. range, short for “Outrageous Millennial Girls,” is a fashion-doll spin-off of L.O.L. Surprise! and won “Doll of the Year” at the 2020 Toy Industry Awards.
The dispute is not MGA‘s first fight over a doll line, as the company spent much of the 2000s and 2010s in litigation with Mattel over its Bratz brand, which courts resolved largely in MGA‘s favor.
The 2024 verdict drew attention from intellectual-property lawyers as a warning to brands that borrow from artists and entertainers.
Law firm Troutman Pepper Locke described the case as “a cautionary tale for companies developing products or services that draw inspiration from artists, entertainers, athletes, or even social media influencers.”
The OMG Girlz case sits within a wider run of disputes in which musicians have gone to court over the commercial use of their name and likeness.
The estate of rapper MF Doom sued online marketplace Temu in 2025 over merchandise it said copied the rapper’s name and likeness.
OMG Girlz was formed in 2009 and features Tiny‘s daughter Zonnique “Star” Pullins, alongside Bahja “Beauty” Rodriguez and Breaunna “Babydoll” Womack.
The group disbanded in 2015 and reunited in 2023, touring with Xscape and SWV on the Queens of R&B Tour during the litigation and releasing the singles Lover Boy and Make a Scene.
For now, the couple’s recovery stands at the $17.9 million a jury first assigned to the seven dolls in 2024.Music Business Worldwide
