State Champ Radio Pharrell Faces Neptunes Dispute, Lucian Grainge Blasts Diddy Claims & More Top Music Law News
Written by djfrosty on April 2, 2024
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo battle over the rights to the name of their Neptunes producing partnership; UMG and Lucian Grainge hit back at “offensively false” accusations linking them to Diddy’s alleged abuse; Sony wins nearly $1 million in damages from a TikTok rapper over an uncleared sample; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Pharrell and Chad Hugo Battle Over ‘Neptunes’
You might not have heard of The Neptunes, but if you were alive during the early 2000s, you’ve certainly heard a Neptunes song.
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The prolific producing partnership, comprised of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, was responsible for countless earworms from that era: Nelly’s “Hot in Herre,” Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl,” Justin Timberlake’s “Rock Your Body,” Britney Spears’ “I’m a Slave 4 U” and many, many others.
But 20 years on, something is rotten in the state of Neptune.
In a legal action filed last week, attorneys for Hugo accused Pharrell and his company of attempting to unilaterally register trademarks for the Neptunes name – a move they say violates their longstanding agreement that saw the pair split everything equally: “By ignoring and excluding [Hugo] from the any and all applications filed by applicant for the mark ‘The Neptunes,’ applicant has committed fraud in securing the trademarks and acted in bad faith.”
Go read our entire story on the dispute here, including a response from Pharrell.
Other top stories this week…
TOP MUSIC LAWYERS – Billboard revealed its 2024 list of Top Music Lawyers, featuring the best legal minds — both in-house and at law firms — who propel the industry forward by negotiating deals, litigating disputes and shaping policy. At the top of this year’s list was Christine Lepera, a go-to music litigator who has represented Katy Perry, Drake, Jay-Z, Post Malone and many others in high profile cases. This past year, Lepera beat back a copyright lawsuit against Dua Lipa over “Levitating,” and won a key decision for Daryl Hall in his messy dispute with John Oates.
“OFFENSIVELY FALSE” – Attorneys for Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge fired back at a lawsuit that claims he and the label “aided and abetted” Sean “Diddy” Combs in his alleged sexual abuse, arguing that the accusations are so “offensively false” that they plan to seek legal penalties against the lawyer who filed them. “A license to practice law is a privilege,” Grainge’s attorney Donald Zakarin wrote. “Plaintiff’s lawyer has misused that license…”
TIKTOK RAPPER PAYS THE PRICE – A federal judge ruled that Trefeugo, a rapper popular on TikTok, must pay Sony Music more than $800,000 in damages for using a copyrighted sample without permission in his “90mh” — a track that Sony claimed was streamed 100 million times on Spotify. “The court hopes this case will serve as a $802,997.23 lesson for defendant in carefully selecting the materials included in his raps.”
ASTROWORLD UPDATE – With a trial looming next month, Travis Scott asked to be dismissed from the sprawling litigation over the 2021 disaster at the Astroworld music festival. Attorneys for the star (led by Dan Petrocelli) argued that safety and security at live events is “not the job of performing artists” – even in the case of someone like Scott, who conceptualized and heavily promoted the event the festival with his own branding.
LINKIN PARK SETTLEMENT – The band’s members reached a settlement to end a lawsuit that accused them of refusing to pay royalties to Kyle Christner, an ex-bassist who briefly played with the band in the late 1990s before they hit it big. In a statement, Linkin Park said it had reached an “amicable resolution” and acknowledged that Christner made “valuable contributions” at a “pivotal time.”
JAMES DOLAN ABUSE CASE – Attorneys for Madison Square Garden executive James Dolan fired back at a lawsuit that alleges he pressured a masseuse into unwanted sex while his band was touring with the Eagles, calling his accuser an “opportunist” who is “looking for a quick payday” over “completely manufactured” allegations.
