The fate of T.I. and Tiny’s $25 million intellectual property war with toymaker MGA Entertainment was left in the hands of an eight-member jury on Friday after closing arguments involving allegations of “demeaning” insults and “deep fakes.”
In their final remarks rounding out the third courtroom trial in the long-running civil case, lawyers on each side sparred over T.I. and Tiny’s claims that MGA infringed on the name, identity, and likeness of the couple’s teen pop group OMG Girlz with its wildly popular line of “L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G.” dolls.
“This case is really about one side that believes they can do what they want, and they can push people around,” John R. Keville, the lawyer representing T.I., Tiny, and all three OMG Girlz, said Friday as his famous clients watched from the courtroom gallery.
In his dueling statement, MGA’s lawyer called T.I. and Tiny’s allegations “baseless and offensive,” saying his clients sold have sold 45 million “L.O.L Surprise! O.M.G.” dolls and “never received one complaint” that a customer was “confused” about a possible association with the OMG Girlz. “It’s not right what’s happening,” attorney Paul J. Loh said of the infringement claims. “We’re here to vindicate the truth.”
Over the last three weeks, jurors heard testimony that T.I. and Tiny co-founded the OMG Girlz in 2009 with Tiny’s daughter Zonnique “Star” Pullins as a core member and then built the group into a popular act that toured the country, signed a recording deal with Interscope Records, and received a handwritten note from Beyoncé complimenting the trio’s 2013 single “Baddie.” T.I. and Tiny both testified in person at the start of the trial that they believed seven specific MGA dolls blatantly copied the way the OMG Girlz looked in publicized photos or at high-profile appearances such as the 2012 BET Awards, the group’s 2013 All Around the World tour, and a 2017 New Year’s Eve performance in Atlanta with Tiny’s R&B group Xscape.
Pullins and her bandmates Bahja “Beauty” Rodriguez and Breaunna “Babydoll” Womack also testified, describing their intellectual property as a “trade dress” consisting of three elements appearing simultaneously: their OMG Girlz name, their vibrant pink, purple and blue hair, and their distinctive “edgy” wardrobe.
“This is a very important case,” Keville said in his closing. “The girls have been waiting for their chance to tell their story and protect their brand. And they’re happy to be here despite repeatedly throughout this trial being insulted, being called ‘nowhere,’ being called unsuccessful, being called extortionists. There was no name calling on our side. On our side, there was grace.”
Keville said his clients decided to focus on just seven dolls instead of the 31 previously at issue in the case to save everyone time and energy. “We’re trying to be fair, conservative, and just,” he said. When it was his turn, Loh blasted the whittled down list as a “moving target.” He said the prior list of 31 allegedly infringing dolls included a “boy” doll, which he called “an absurdity.”
The bitter legal battle playing out in a federal courtroom in Santa Ana, California, started back in December 2020 when lawyers for T.I., born Clifford Harris, and his wife sent a cease-and-desist letter to MGA. Two weeks later, MGA filed a preemptive lawsuit seeking a judge’s determination that it did nothing wrong. The Harrises then counter-sued for trade dress infringement and misappropriation of likeness.
“You can’t falsely accuse someone, even once, full stop, don’t even go there,” Loh argued Friday, defending MGA’s decision to file its lawsuit so quickly. He argued that the OMG Girlz were “not unique” enough, famous enough, or consistent enough to claim a legally protectable look.
“They weren’t trendsetters,” he said, showing photos of other musical artists including Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, and Avril Lavigne sporting pink, purple and blue hair and eccentric clothing. “They don’t have a signature look, and they don’t have a protectable trade dress.”
Loh then attacked an exhibit used by T.I. and Tiny’s side that showed three of MGA’s allegedly infringing dolls posed in a manner resembling a photo of the OMG Girlz on the BET red carpet. He said the dolls were not posed that way in their boxes. “Please don’t manipulate evidence,” he said. “If they truly believe the evidence is so clear that the O.M.G. dolls look like the OMG Girlz, then why resort to distortion and deep fakes?”
Keville argued that a bigger issue was the way his clients have been treated. He blasted MGA’s billionaire founder Isaac Larian for testifying that the OMG Girlz’s career went “nowhere” and that the infringement lawsuit amounted to “extortion.”
“It’s insulting,” Keville said. “It’s demeaning for Mr. Larian to say those kinds of things.” As he ran jurors through the highlights of the OMG Girlz’s heyday a decade ago, he flashed a Twitter post from Lady Gaga on a courtroom screen. “Im sort of obsessed with these little cuties: The OMG Girlz,” Gaga wrote in her March 2012 tweet, linking to a video. “I just want comb their hair and tie bows in it all day!!!” Keville argued that the post proved the group’s popularity and how it made sense for MGA to want to make dolls depicting its members. “There’s a logical expansion from having a girl group like this to having dolls,” he argued.
The jury of four women and four men spent about an hour reviewing evidence Friday before they ended for the night. They’re set to resume deliberations Monday. An initial trial in the high-profile case ended in a mistrial in January 2023. A second trial ended in a loss for T.I. and Tiny that was overturned last year due to a change in the law.
While the new trial is largely a replay of last year’s proceeding, it differs in the number of disputed dolls and the amount of money being sought. Previously, the couple sought nearly $100 million for the alleged infringement. This time, their expert said they deserve $17 million to $24.5 million for the seven dolls at issue.
During the trial, jurors heard evidence that MGA’s “L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G.” dolls brought in more than $300 million in revenue between 2019 and 2022, but that the number dropped to $7.8 million between 2023 and 2024. Keville said Friday he wasn’t sure he believed the accounting, but if it was true, the drop-off might be linked to consumers realizing the dolls weren’t related to the OMG Girlz.
Loh scoffed at the suggestion in his closing, calling it “impossible.” “That doesn’t make any sense, whatsoever,” he said.
From Rolling Stone US
