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.”
