Overview

• On July 8, Judge James V. Selna cut the original $71 million verdict to $17.9 million in compensatory damages and assigned just $1 in punitive damages due to a lack of proof of willfulness.
• The ruling found that one internal email, a Pinterest image and over 1,200 other pictures failed to meet California’s clear-and-convincing-evidence standard for punitive awards.
• The court granted T.I. and Tiny Harris the right to reject the reduced judgment and seek a new jury trial focused exclusively on punitive damages, which they formally requested this week.
• Their legal team contends that another jury will agree MGA designers acted with malicious intent by copying the OMG Girlz’ likeness and trade dress.
• MGA Entertainment stands by its position that its designers did not deliberately copy the group’s branding and is expected to challenge the forthcoming punitive damages trial.