Rapper T.I. and his wife Tameka "Tiny" Cottle won a massive lawsuit against toy company MGA Entertainment last month, and were awarded $71 million in total. According to a report by Rolling Stone, the couple made the case that MGA's "L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G." line of dolls violated their intellectual property rights due to the likeness of their daughter, Zonnique "Star" Pullins and her band OMG Girlz. On Monday, Sept. 23, a jury in Santa Ana, California, ruled that 15 of the dolls infringed on the trademark.
OMG Girlz is a pop music trio consisting of Pullins, Bahja "Beauty" Rodriguez and Breaunna "BabyDoll" Womack. The group formed in 2009 with the guidance of Cottle, who was herself a member of the R&B group Xscape in the 1990s. They have worked with Pullins' stepfather T.I. – whose real name is Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. – as well, and even collaborated with him on the music video "Hello." Together, Cottle and Harris argued that MGA's toy line had intentionally copied the appearance, style and name of OMG Girlz without any licensing agreement in order to turn a profit.
The case examined over 30 dolls from MGA's toy line, but only 15 were found to have copyright violations. The jury found that one doll misappropriated the OMG Girlz name, image and likeness, while another violated the group's "trade dress." The other 13 dolls "infringed on the trade dress and misappropriated the name, image, and likeness" of the band.
Both Harris and Cottle admitted that this was more than they had hoped for. During the trial itself, Harris focused on seven particular dolls that he said were made to look the way the OMG Girlz dressed at "very specific public events" and in particular photos. He called the infringement "undeniably blatant," adding: "You can hold them up to these pictures and see. Anyone with eyes can see that this picture influenced this doll."
MGA argued against these allegations to the bitter end. The company's CEO testified that that OMG Girlz had played no part in the development of these toys and his lawyers noted that the company had no record of customer complaints or commentary about the similarity. However, The OMG Girlz's legal team presented evidence including social media posts comparing the toys to the pop stars, and even sworn testimony from four consumers who said they had assumed the OMG Girlz were involved in the MGA dolls based on their appearance.
This legal victory may be short-lived with the widespread sexual abuse allegations against Harris and Cottle resurfacing this year. Back in 2020, more than 30 women and at least one man accused the couple of "forced drugging, kidnapping, intimidation and sexual assault" in incidents dating back to 2005. The couple denied those allegations at the time, but they were hit with a fresh lawsuit in January of 2024. The lawsuit was dismissed in August due to the statute of limitations, but that hasn't slowed the commentary on social media – especially with other high-profile stories of sexual abuse in the hip-hop industry this year.