fate TI and Tiny's $25 million intellectual property war with toy maker MGA Entertainment ended in the hands of an eight-member jury on Friday after closing arguments that included allegations of “derogatory” insults and “deepfakes.”
In their closing remarks at the end of 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 image of the couple's teen pop group OMG Girlz with its popular line of “LOL Surprise! OMG” dolls.
“This case is really about one party thinking they can do whatever they want, they can impose on people whatever they want,” John R. Keevil, the attorney representing T.I., Tiny and all three OMG Girls, said Friday as his celebrity clients watched from the courtroom.
In his conflicting statement, MGA’s attorney called T.I. and Tiny’s claims “baseless and offensive,” saying his clients have sold 45 million “LOL Surprise! OMG” dolls and “never received a single complaint” that a customer was “confused” about a possible association between the doll and the OMG Girlz. “It’s not right what’s happening,” attorney Paul J. Loh said of the infringement allegations. “We’re here to prove the truth.”
Over the past three weeks, jurors have heard testimony that T.I. and Tinie co-founded the OMG Girlz in 2009 with Tinie’s daughter Zonnique “Star” Pullins as a core member and built the group into a nationwide hit, signed a recording contract with Interscope Records and received a handwritten note from Beyoncé praising the trio’s 2013 single “Baddie.” T.I. and Tinie 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 published photos or in high-profile appearances such as the 2012 BET Awards, the group’s 2013 world tour and a 2017 New Year’s Eve performance in Atlanta with Tinie’s R&B group Xscape.
Bullins and her bandmates also saw the joy of “Beauty” Rodriguez and Breonna “Baby Doll” Womack, describing their intellectual property as a “brand look” that consists of three elements appearing at once: their OMG Girlz name, their vibrant pink, purple and blue hair, and their signature “daring” wardrobe.
“This is a very important case,” Keevil said in closing. “The girls were waiting for an opportunity to tell their story and protect their brand. They are happy to be here despite being repeatedly insulted throughout this trial, called ‘no place’, called losers, called blackmailers. There was no insult on our part. There was kindness on our part.”
Keevil 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 try to be fair, conservative and just,” he said. When it came to his turn, Loh criticized the shortlist as a “moving target.” He said the previous list of 31 alleged copyright infringers included a “boy” doll, which he called “absurd.”
The bitter legal battle raging in a federal courtroom in Santa Ana, California, began in December 2020 when lawyers for T.I., born Clifford Harris, and his wife sent a letter to MGA asking for a halt to the work. Two weeks later, MGA filed a preemptive lawsuit asking a judge to determine whether it had done anything wrong. The Harrises then countersued for trade dress infringement and misuse of likeness.
“You can’t falsely accuse someone, even once, don’t even go there,” Loh said Friday, defending MGA’s decision to file the lawsuit so quickly. He claimed the OMG Girlz are “not unique enough, popular enough, or consistent enough” to claim a legally protectable look.
“They didn't have a distinctive look and they didn't wear a commercial uniform that could be protected,” he said, showing photos of other female music artists including Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj and Avril Lavigne wearing pink, purple and blue hair and outlandish clothing.
Luo then attacked a presentation used by TI and Tiny, which showed three alleged MGA dolls that infringed copyrights, in a pose resembling the OMG girls on the BET red carpet. He said the dolls were not in a similar pose in their boxes. “Please don’t tamper with the evidence,” he said. “If they really believe the evidence is so clear that the OMG dolls look like the OMG girls, why would they resort to distortion and deepfakes?”
Keevil claimed the biggest problem was the way his clients were treated. He criticized MGA founder Isaac Larian, a billionaire, for testifying that the OMG Girls' career “hasn't achieved anything” and that the copyright infringement lawsuit amounted to “extortion.”
“It’s insulting,” Keevil said. “It’s insulting that Mr. Larian would say such things.” As he recounted to the jury highlights from the heyday of the OMG Girlz a decade ago, he flashed a Twitter post from Lady Gaga onto the courtroom screen. “I’m kind of obsessed with these beautiful girls: the OMG Girlz,” Gaga wrote in a March 2012 tweet, accompanied by a video. “I just want to brush their hair and tie bows all day long!!!” Keevil argued that the post demonstrated the group’s popularity and how it made sense for MGA to want to make dolls featuring its members. “There’s a logical extension from having a girl group like this to having dolls,” he said.
The jury of four women and four men spent about an hour reviewing evidence Friday before calling it a night. They are scheduled to resume deliberations Monday. The 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 Tenney, which was thrown out last year due to a change in the law.
While the new trial is largely a rerun of last year’s proceedings, it differs in the number of dolls in dispute and the amount of money sought. Previously, the couple sought nearly $100 million for the alleged infringement. This time, their expert said they are entitled to between $17 million and $24.5 million for the seven dolls in dispute.
During the trial, jurors heard evidence that MGA’s “LOL Surprise! OMG” dolls generated more than $300 million in revenue between 2019 and 2022, but that figure dropped to $7.8 million between 2023 and 2024. Keevil said Friday he wasn’t sure he believed the accounting, but if it was correct, the drop could be related to consumers realizing the dolls aren’t related to OMG Girlz.
Luo laughed off the suggestion at the end of his speech, calling it “impossible.” “This makes no sense at all,” he said.
