TIn 2009, the OMG Girlz, a famous teenage pop band, made up of the three luscious ladies, have delivered another fantastic victory to the young and rockers of the world. They have received the highest legal award with a $71 million settlement from the maker of toy MGA Entertainment.

The products of MGA, which include the L.O.L. Surprise! OMG dolls, are found to have copied their name, image, and the general style of OMG girls. The California jury has tilted at the side of the group and accused MGA of infringing on the famous intellectual property of the group.

It was found in the case that companies are breaking the law if they use their logos or trademarks without owners' permission, and they cannot legally reproduce copyrighted images or sell them. This suit that had gone on for such a long period indicates the gravity of losing the originality of creative materials through illegal usage by the corporate world.

OMG Girlz vs. MGA Entertainment: What Happened?

The OMG Girlz, including the members Zonnique Pullins, Bahja Rodriguez, and Breaunna Womack, along with Tiny and T.I. Harris, began a legal feud with MGA Entertainment in 2020 when they filed a lawsuit. According to the lawsuit, MGA is said to have unreservedly copied their picture and branding in the line of totally OMG! dolls of the L.O.L. Surprise!

Their likeness rights have been violated as these are the very dolls with exact "trade dress" (the dressing and style that makes the group recognizable). They also, confused the public by using the name "The L.O.L. OMG! Dolls" which also triggered a lawsuit.

A California jury that felt very similarly to the group, sided with them and granted them $71 million worth of damages. This amount comprised $17.9 million in actual damages as well as a further $53.6 million in punitive damages, which served as a penalty for MGA’s intellectual property rights violation.

Protecting Intellectual Property Rights for Creatives

The verdict is a milestone win for the OMG Girlz who are not only the victims but for creators who have been identity mugged by the big corporates, and what it demonstrates is how wrong it is. As Bahja Rodriguez, one of the OMG Girlz, proclaimed on social media, "This is for all creatives. We will no longer be compelled to sit idly by while others are making profits out of our ideas and creativity."

It is not just the well-known people who are involved that made this case notorious but also it has its effect on artists in different fields. T.I., Zonnique’s stepfather, was content with the result, he expressed, "Justice was done. This is partly due to the unflinching unyielding determination of my wife, girl and their cousins. We stood up for what was right.

MGA Entertainment’s Response

MGA Entertainment which is well-known for its popular Bratz and L.O.L. Surprise! doll collections, refused every accusation during the trial. The company insisted that L.O.L. Surprise! OMG dolls were not inspired by the OMG Girlz. As a matter of fact, MGA even got an injunction in 2020 by the court to avoid being forced to a trial after they got cease-and-desist from the band

Although MGA has been trying to throw out the lawsuit as “baseless”, the court, however, discovered the similar patterns between the band and the dolls in which it was in favor of the OMG Girlz. The jury ruled that MGA's dolls had indeed misappropriated the band's name, likeness, and image in violation of intellectual property laws.