Monique Nicole

IT, Tiny, OMG Girls
TI & Tiny’s lawsuit against toymaker for allegedly copying daughter’s former girl group likeness ends in mistrial over racism testimony
A judge rejected IT and lowercase lawsuit against MGA Entertainment!
According to the journalist Meghan Cuniff, IT and lowercase The countersuit against toymakers MGA Entertainment, which sued the pair for infringement of their popular OMG dolls, was dismissed.
The mistrial was announced after jurors heard recorded testimony from a woman who accused the toy company of appropriating the black community, a matter previously ruled inadmissible by the court.
Cuniff took to Twitter to give a breakdown of what happened today (January 25) in court. She tweeted,
“The jurors in @MGAEnt v. @Point heard of a woman who said she stopped buying OMG dolls because “I didn’t want to support a company that steals from African Americans and their ideas”. Today, a judge declared a mistrial because of this, agreeing with this argument from MGA’s lawyers.
Jurors in @MGAEnt v. @Point heard of a woman who said she stopped buying OMG dolls because “I didn’t want to support a company that steals from African Americans and their ideas”.
Today, a judge declared a mistrial because of this, agreeing with this argument from MGA’s lawyers. pic.twitter.com/51LXV8gFBO
— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) January 25, 2023
According to legal documents, the court acknowledged that the testimony was “inappropriate and unfairly prejudicial”.
According to Cunif, IT the lawyer tried to convince the judge otherwise. The journalist tweeted:
“TI lawyer Erin Ranahan tried to have Judge Selna reconsider, saying the testimony was of no use to their case. “We didn’t want this theme in front of this particular jury. It’s not Los Angeles. There’s not a single black man on the jury. It did not work.
Apparently the judge said:
“I think it’s obvious that there have been shortcomings on everyone’s part, including the court, in getting the parties to the point where they are today… For all the foregoing reasons, I reluctantly grants a mistrial. I think it is quite appropriate and necessary.
As previously reported, the artists have launched a counter-suit against toymakers MGA Entertainment, which sued the couple for infringement of their popular OMG dolls.
According to reports, Tamek’Toddler‘Harris submitted the countersuit after MGA claimed the band’s likeness was too similar to their doll collection. MGA reportedly cited concerns over Clifford’you’ Harris’ multiple arrests. Moreover, Harris make a daughter t-shirt Zonic Pullins mugshot was also cited. The music group, made up of Pullinssisters Bahja and Lourdes Rodriguez, and rapper by Lil Wayne the girl Regine Carter (before she left in 2010), was known for her colorful and eccentric style.
Despite similarities to the equally colorful and quirky toys, Harris noted that the group was launched in 2009, well before the announced 2016 launch of the OMG Dolls
“Someone asked me if OMG Girlz had any dolls available in the store. I told her no and immediately started looking into it and researching the company. I realized that the OMG dolls created looked identical to OMG Girlz, I couldn’t believe the dolls were made in their image, and I didn’t know it:
She added,
“It was the dolls’ outfits that struck me, and that’s how I knew they were infringing on our brand. One outfit in particular stood out to me because I personally designed the outfit for the OMG Girlz tour. It’s not something I picked up in the store. So for their doll to wear the exact outfit, I knew they had stolen it.
What do you think of the dismissal of the case? Let us know in the comments below!