T.I. and Tiny vowed to reject a judge’s reduced $1 punitive damages ruling in their lawsuit against MGA Entertainment over OMG Girlz.
T.I. and Tiny Harris are pushing back after a federal judge slashed their $71 million courtroom victory to just under $18 million in their intellectual property battle with toy giant MGA Entertainment over the OMG Girlz likeness.
The couple’s legal team confirmed they plan to reject the revised judgment, which gutted the original $53.6 million punitive damages down to a symbolic $1, leaving only the $17.9 million in compensatory damages intact.
Their attorney, John Keville, told PEOPLE the pair is “considering our options as to next steps.”
“But if in the end there is another mini-trial on just the punitive damages, we expect another jury will be similarly offended by MGA’s maliciousness and copying,” Keville said.
The judge’s decision, issued earlier this week, found there wasn’t enough evidence to prove MGA acted with “willful intent or conscious disregard,” a legal threshold required for punitive damages.
T.I. and Tiny now have two weeks to decide whether to accept the reduced payout or push for a new trial focused solely on punitive damages.
In a joint statement, the couple said, “When we took on MGA Entertainment, we stood up for the OMG Girlz but also for something bigger. We stood up for every creative who wants to protect their vision and brand from unfair use without recognition and compensation.”
They added, “The OMG Girlz’ lawsuit shows just how hard it is for creatives, especially Black artists and young entrepreneurs, to protect their intellectual property from billion-dollar corporations.”
The legal fight began when the couple accused MGA of copying the OMG Girlz’s name, image and style for a line of L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G. dolls without permission. The lawsuit focused on seven dolls that allegedly mimicked the group’s signature look and branding.
After years of litigation, including a mistrial and retrial, a jury in September 2024 sided with T.I. and Tiny, awarding $71 million in damages—$17.9 million in compensatory damages and $53.6 million in punitive damages.
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