T.I. and his wife Tameka “Tiny” Harris have been awarded an enormous sum of money after winning a lawsuit against doll brand LOL Surprise! OMG dolls.
According to Rolling Stone, the couple were awarded $71 million after it was ruled that OMG dolls infringed upon their intellectual property rights.
“We did this for the city. We did this for the culture,” Tiny said outside the courthouse in California after the verdict was delivered.
She continued: “It was a fight. It was a hell of a fight. We couldn’t be more happy.”
The Xscape singer also thanked the jurors for the verdict: “We wanted to thank the jurors for just seeing us through this, and just believing in what we said. They heard our story and they knew we wasn’t lying. It’s amazing.”
T.I. told Rolling Stone after the victory: “I think justice was served. I think it’s a testament to the relentlessness and resilience of my wife, daughter and nieces.
“We’re just happy we were able to come out on top and fight for creatives and our intellectual property that large corporations seem to think is just public domain and free for all to come and grab and use.”
The complaint was the couple’s third attempt at suing MGA Entertainment over their line of LOL Surprise! OMG dolls, which they claimed copied the appearance of their teen pop group OMG Girlz.
The ruling found that seven of the dolls in the product line copied the likeness of the group, which also featured Tiny’s daughter Star who testified during the hearing, as did her bandmates.
In addition to celebrating, T.I. criticized MGA in his interview with Rolling Stone after the lawsuit reached its conclusion.
“[They were] trying to paint me as the bad guy when really, they were the [bad] ones,” he said. “They were the ones that came and ripped us off, and [they] expected us to not have the audacity to stand up and speak for ourselves.”
The Hustle Gang honcho added: “That kind of condescension comes from when you’re not really in touch with the reality of culture after you’ve gone so long kind of having it your way and nobody really standing up and speaking against you.”
He also accused the toy giant of using “bully tactics” during the legal dispute.
MGA had frequently denied allegations of copyright infringement, claiming the dolls were not based on the recently reunited girl group and through their attorneys attacked T.I. and Tiny for pursuing the lawsuit, even labeling the couple “extortionists.”
MGA Entertainment have yet to respond to the verdict.
The King!!!!
Bull shit they did it for the city or “the culture”, donate all $71M if that’s true. They won’t because they’re both pieces of crap
I think what he meant was, TIP and TINY were displaying to their community, how you fight against a big company, stand on principle and don’t back down. While you look at the money, you should look at the fight that it took to win the verdict. Blessings to you.
This is obviously somebody in TIs camp. Maybe TIP himself. lifefordear.com
they will donate to those who they see fit, example those who made it possible to survive the whole ordeal and come out victorious, those who invested in this situation, not to those who us folks in the comment section say they should
I thought ti and his wife they had to pay 100m or some shit…………..
“We wasn’t lying.” Speak english, you degenerate sack of shit.
good move time to collect though I hope they do