Atlanta rapper T.I. and his spouse Tameka “Tiny” Harris need “financial justice” after a serious toy firm made “hundreds of thousands of {dollars}” off a line of dolls allegedly impressed by the all-girl group OMG Girlz that the couple launched in 2009. The musical group was additionally featured on T.I. and Tiny’s actuality TV present, their lawyer informed jurors in a California courtroom Wednesday.
The opposing lawyer representing the toymaker used her opening assertion to allege T.I. and Tiny don’t have any reputable declare to any income from MGA Leisure’s line of “L.O.L. Shock! O.M.G” dolls and try to extort the corporate with “fabricated claims.”
“This case is about greed. That’s what it’s about. It’s a shakedown,” MGA lawyer Jennifer Keller mentioned in her first handle to the jury now listening to testimony within the civil trial enjoying out in a federal courtroom in Santa Ana, Calif.
In line with Keller, MGA marketed dolls in its wildly in style Bratz line again in 2005 that had been styled as musicians with the identical shiny pink, purple and blue hair claimed because the signature look of the OMG Girlz. She mentioned even the lady group’s identify was spinoff, contemplating the “z” on the finish just like Bratz.
“(They) need tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} from MGA Leisure for doing completely nothing, and I do imply nothing. We’re going to point out you that the OMG Girlz truly copied us, and now complain we appear to be them,” she mentioned. “They had been development followers, not development setters.”
T.I. and Tiny sat within the courtroom for the opening statements together with Tiny’s daughter, Zonnique Pullins, a musician in her personal proper who was an authentic member of OMG Girlz together with Lil Wayne’s daughter Reginae Carter. Pullins, 26, remained with the act after it developed right into a trio with Bahja “Magnificence” Rodriguez and Breaunna “Babydoll” Womack.
In line with T.I. and Tiny’s lawyer, David C. Scheper, OMG Girlz turned a nationwide model by 2012 and performed greater than 30 concert events throughout the nation in 2013 to “jubilant” audiences in “packed arenas.” He mentioned the band “hit pause” in 2015, however then reunited for a “actually decisive” 2017 New Yr’s Eve efficiency at what was then often known as the Philips Enviornment in Atlanta.
“They introduced the home down, and their social media exploded thereafter, and the OMG Girlz turned and stay extremely related,” Scheper mentioned. “Now, somebody was watching that reunion look. And that somebody, we don’t know who, labored at MGA Leisure. You will notice that outfits worn by the OMG Girlz at that New Yr’s occasion in Atlanta later translated into dolls that (MGA founder) Isaac Larian and MGA are making hundreds of thousands of {dollars} off of.”
Scheper confirmed jurors a photograph of Rodriguez’s half-pink, half-black coiffure from the efficiency and in contrast it with an “L.O.L. Shock! O.M.G.” doll with a strikingly related coiffure launched in late 2019.
He additionally confirmed jurors a photograph of the OMG Girlz from their 2013 “All Across the World” tour and in contrast their matching black and white outfits with bared midriffs to an “L.O.L. Shock! O.M.G.” doll with a notably related ensemble.
“This is among the most unmistakable borrowings,” Scheper informed the jurors.
He mentioned the 31 dolls at problem within the case created “confusion” with shoppers who walked into shops, noticed the dolls with the distinctive styling and O.M.G. identify and bought them considering they had been one way or the other linked to the lady group. Scheper mentioned among the shoppers would testify on the trial anticipated to final three weeks.
Scheper additionally mentioned an e-mail chain dated Dec. 31, 2019 and located on MGA’s server proves key staff on the firm weren’t solely conscious of the OMG Girlz as a musical act however had been cognizant that individuals had been complicated their dolls with the group.
“Isaac Larian has sworn no one has heard of the OMG Girlz, they’re nothing, they’re nowhere. However they had been one thing and someplace on New Yr’s Eve of 2019,” Scheper mentioned, exhibiting jurors the e-mail chain on a display screen within the courtroom.
The e-mail shared a hyperlink wherein a celeb seemed to be “expressing or exclaiming enthusiasm over the OMG dolls, or so MGA thought,” the lawyer mentioned. It seems the hyperlink was referring to the lady group, he mentioned.
“Hahaha!!,” the interior e-mail forwarded to an MGA designer with the topic line, “OMG Doll in Music Video,” learn. “I believe they’re speaking about OMG Girlz, not OMG dolls.”
Scheper mentioned the e-mail was “proof of precise information that there’s confusion simply two months after the dolls had been launched.”
The authorized battle behind the lawsuit began when legal professionals for T.I. and Tiny despatched a requirement letter to MGA in December 2020 that made clear the couple, via their firms Grand Hussle and Fairly Hussle, believed the mental property rights of OMG Girlz weren’t being honored. As a substitute of participating in talks or launching an investigation, MGA preemptively filed a lawsuit asking the court docket to step in and ensure it owns the identify and picture of the dolls, Scheper mentioned. T.I. and Tiny later countersued, claiming MGA misappropriated the identify, likeness and “commerce costume” of the OMG Girlz.
“What your eyes are exhibiting you is that there was copying, there was inspiration, there was precise confusion, there was proof of confusion in MGA’s ranks,” Scheper informed jurors.
The MGA lawyer countered that the OMG Girlz made solely a “modest cultural impression” and that lots of the group’s identical seems to be had been popularized by different musical artists in years prior. Keller confirmed jurors a collage of pictures depicting celebrities with brightly coloured locks, together with Rihanna with electrical blue hair, Katy Perry with shiny inexperienced hair, Lil Kim with neon yellow hair and Nicki Minaj with a coiffure that was half white and half pink.
Keller then prompt MGA will try to carry proof of T.I. and Tiny’s prior controversies into the trial, although she didn’t get particular. In 2021, practically a dozen folks accused T.I. and Tiny of “sexual abuse, compelled ingestion of unlawful narcotics, kidnapping, terroristic threats and false imprisonment.” Nevertheless, prosecutors in Los Angeles declined to maneuver ahead with the case, and the couple didn’t face expenses.
“None of our dolls are primarily based on the OMG Girlz. We’d by no means design and attempt to market kids’s toys primarily based on the OMG Girlz and the Hussle events, the Harris household, with which they’re related. It isn’t a household most individuals would need their kids to emulate. And also you’re going to see why that’s in proof produced all through this trial,” Keller mentioned.
Pullins, 26, was known as as the primary witness and spent her first three hours on the stand describing and defending the “signature” look of the OMG Girlz.
“Didn’t plenty of teenage women, once you had been a young person, put on enjoyable garments?” Keller requested her on cross-examination.
“How enjoyable are you speaking? OMG enjoyable, or common enjoyable?” Pullins shot again. “OMG enjoyable is random, it’s colourful. Numerous women don’t simply placed on three shirts and tutus and stroll outdoors to go to the grocery retailer. I don’t consider that, no.”
Keller additionally grilled Pullins over the 16 p.c monetary stake in OMG Girlz that she was granted final Could, simply days earlier than she signed a declaration supporting her mother and step-dad’s claims within the case. Pullins mentioned she was below the impression her group members additionally acquired monetary pursuits within the group, however that was not confirmed by her testimony.
T.I. and Tiny are also on account of be known as as witnesses through the trial, as is Larian. Keller tried to organize jurors for Larian’s anticipated testimony in her opening.
“Rising up poor and Jewish in Iran has made Mr. Larian not solely persistent and pushed, however a fighter, and typically he responds to aggressive questioning by combating, and chances are you’ll not like that, however he’ll at all times inform you the reality,” she mentioned. “So when any individual sues and defames him and accuses his hardworking designers of copying and stealing, he fights again.”