Back in February MGA Entertainment was ordered to pay rapper T.I. and his wife, Tiny Harris, $71 million in damages after winning their copyright infringement lawsuit [click here if you missed that].
Now the judgement has been slashed to $1, setting the stage for a new trial...
From AllHipHop
T.I. and Tiny Harris saw their $71 million courtroom win against toy giant MGA Entertainment tossed out Tuesday (July 8) after a federal judge ruled they failed to prove the company intentionally copied their girl group, OMG Girlz.
U.S. District Judge James V. Selna acknowledged that jurors had “substantial evidence with which to find that MGA misappropriated the OMG Girlz’ identity” but said the Harrises didn’t meet the legal bar for punitive damages. The decision wipes out the multimillion-dollar award and sets the stage for a new trial.
“These pieces [of evidence], when put together, establish just one passing reference to the OMG Girlz in MGA internal emails and one image of a single band member on one product designer’s Pinterest board that also contained over 1,200 similar fashion-related images,” Selna wrote in his ruling. “This is not clear and convincing evidence of willful infringement or conscious disregard for the rights of others.”
Selna also pointed out that MGA’s conduct wasn’t “reprehensible,” the OMG Girlz suffered minimal emotional distress and the Harrises are “not financially vulnerable.” He offered the couple the option to accept a symbolic $1 in punitive damages instead of retrying the case. They declined and are reportedly moving forward with a full retrial.
The lawsuit, filed in 2023, accused MGA of lifting the likeness and style of the OMG Girlz for its L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G. dolls without permission. The original jury sided with the Harrises, awarding them $71 million in damages before the judge’s reversal.
14 comments:
Lmaooooooo
Whelp time to start touring.
A dollar?! Wow
Not a fan of them and thought the case wasn't sound to begin with. But what's the point of having a jury trial of the judge completely reversed the decision? I guess this is more of a general legal question than about this case per se
How you go from $71 million to a $1 judgment OMG I thought Snitch made a mistake
It's obvious MGA copied those girls entire image and clearly the jury saw it too.
1:38 the appellate court is a higher court. They review the records of the lower court (trial) to make sure the law was properly applied and the ruling was fair. A lot of judgements get reduced on appeal so this is no surprise.
this some bullchit
So the judgment was reduced because the judge feels that the Harris' s aren't hurting for money? Wow
That is why Tiny and Ti should continue to lay
low in all their matters
Both personal and business wise
Until they sort this out
No more comments on fre@k offs
And no comments to S@brina publicly
@2:02
Thanks for clarifying. I didn't realize this was an appellate judge--I missed that it was a federal judge because I read it so fast and was so fixated by the $1 judgement. I first thought it was the same judge presiding that immediately reversed the jury's ruling. I know that some presiding civil judges do amend the jury's amount, but not so drastically.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLO
Now lets hear TI get on the net and talk about how God blessed him. Nasty MotherFker they don't deserve nothing. LOLO
6:52 they are nasty. ole nasti soinsos
To award them $1 means they proved their case, but the company wants to pay them the bare minimum so they will make them start from scratch negotiating the pay out.
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