Legal
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DaBaby has been dropped from a copyright lawsuit accusing him and Dua Lipa of ripping off their smash hit “Levitating” from decades-old songs.
In an order Monday (July 10), a Manhattan federal judge granted a request by lawyers for L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer to voluntarily dismiss the rapper from their case, which claims Lipa’s massive hit infringed their 1979 song “Wiggle and Giggle All Night” and their 1980 song “Don Diablo.”
The accusers did not explain why they were dropping their case against DaBaby (real name Jonathan Lyndale Kirk), who featured on a popular remix of Lipa’s song. But they made clear that the case would continue against Lipa herself and music companies involved in the song: “For the avoidance of doubt, plaintiffs maintain and do not hereby dismiss their claims against any other defendant in this matter.”
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An attorney for Brown and Linzer declined to comment on why they had dismissed DaBaby from the case. An attorney for DaBaby did not return a request for comment.
Brown and Linzer’s case, filed in March 2022, was one of two federal copyright lawsuits filed in quick succession over “Levitating” — a massive hit that spent 77 weeks on the Hot 100 and was named the No. 1 Hot 100 song of 2021. The case claimed the melody that starts just a few seconds into “Levitating,” when Lipa sings “If you wanna run away with me,” was a “duplicate” of a similar passage featured in the two earlier songs.
The other “Levitating” case, filed just days earlier by a reggae band named Artikal Sound System, claimed Lipa had lifted her song’s core hook from their little-known 2015 song “Live Your Life.” But the band dropped that lawsuit last month, just days after a federal judge cast serious doubt on whether Artikal could prove that Lipa ever even heard their song.
Though Brown and Linzer’s case will continue against Lipa, they could be facing a similar ruling soon.
Last summer, Lipa’s lawyers made the same arguments as they made in the Artikal case, saying the two accusers could not prove that she had ever had “access” to the earlier songs — a make-or-break requirement for any copyright lawsuit. Brown and Linzer’s attorneys have countered that their songs had millions of listens on internet platforms, giving the “Levitating” writers ample opportunity to hear them.
A ruling on that question is pending.
The Las Vegas Police Department has concluded its investigation into the alleged incident between Britney Spears and a member of NBA rookie Victor Wembanyama’s security team. In a statement to Billboard on Friday (July 7), the LVMPD said it had wrapped up its probe into the alleged battery that took place on Wednesday in Las Vegas and concluded that “no charges will be filed against the person involved.”
Spears filed a police report after she claimed that she was stuck by a member of Wembanyama’s security team while trying to greet the player in a Las Vegas hotel.
According to TMZ, which first reported the news, Spears was having dinner with husband Sam Asghari and two friends at Catch at the Aria Hotel when she saw the San Antonio Spurs No. 1 pick and wanted to take a photo with him. When she tapped Wembanyama on the shoulder, Director of Team Security for the Spurs Damian Smith reportedly pushed her, hitting her in the face and causing the singer to fall to the ground.
Smith then reportedly apologized to Spears, saying he didn’t recognize the pop star at the time of the incident, with the “Piece of Me” singer reportedly accepted the apology. Afterwards, however, Spears decided to file a police report alleging battery. TMZ reported that law enforcement checked the Aria Hotel’s security footage, which reportedly showed Smith pushing Spears’ hand away from Wembanyama, causing her own hand to strike her in the face before she fell.
Billboard reached out to Spears’ team and the Spurs for additional information and comment on the incident, with neither responding at press time.
On Thursday Spears posted a note on her Instagram explaining her side of the story. “Traumatic experiences are not new to me and I have had my fair share of them. I was not prepared for what happened to me last night,” she wrote. “I recognized an athlete in my hotel lobby as I was heading to dinner. I later went to a restaurant at a different hotel and saw him again. I decided to approach him and congratulate him on his success. It was really loud, so I tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. I am aware of the players statement where he mentions ‘I grabbed him from behind’ but I simply tapped him on the shoulder. His security then back handed me in the face without looking back, in front of a crowd. Nearly knocking me down and causing my glasses [to fall] off my face.”
Wembanyama issued a statement to the Associated Press in which he claimed that Spears “grabbed me from behind,” and that he didn’t know it was the singer until hours later. “I just know the security pushed her away. I don’t know with how much force but security pushed her away. I didn’t stop to look so I could walk in and enjoy a nice dinner,” he said.
Spears added in her statement that, “I get swarmed by people all the time. In fact, that night. I was swarmed by a group of at least 20 fans. My security team didn’t hit any of them. This story is super embarrassing to share with the world but it’s out there already. However, I think it’s important to share this story and urge people in the public eye to set an example and treat all people with respect.”
After Britney Spears filed a police report claiming she was hit by a security guard for NBA rookie Victor Wembanyama on Wednesday night in Las Vegas, her husband Sam Asghari has shared his thoughts on social media.
TMZ broke the news Thursday (July 6), reporting that Spears and Asghari were having dinner at the Aria Hotel when she saw the San Antonio Spurs’ No. 1 draft pick and wanted to take a photo with him. When Spears tapped Wembanyama on the shoulder, Damian Smith, director of team security for the Spurs, reportedly pushed her, hitting her in the face and causing her to fall to the ground, Spears’ report claims.
“I am opposed to violence in any form, especially without justification in the defense of yourself or someone else who is unable to defend themselves,” Asghari wrote via Instagram Story on Thursday. “Self-defense can be unavoidable, but the defense of any woman, especially my wife, is not debatable. I consider my reaction subdued considering what occurred, and I hope the man in question learns a lesson and changes his disregard for women.”
Asghari ended the note with a message for Spears’ fans: “Thank you for the support.”
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told Billboard when asked about the incident, “On July 5, 2023, at approximately 11 p.m., LVMPD officers responded to a property in the 3700 block of Las Vegas Boulevard regarding a battery investigation. The incident has been documented on a police report and no arrest or citations have been issued.”
Spears herself spoke out on Thursday as well, addressing Wembanyama’s claims after the fact that the pop star “grabbed me from behind” and “security pushed her away.”
“Traumatic experiences are not new to me and I have had my fair share of them,” Spears wrote on Instagram. “I was not prepared for what happened to me last night. I recognized an athlete in my hotel lobby as I was heading to dinner. I later went to a restaurant at a different hotel and saw him again. I decided to approach him and congratulate him on his success. It was really loud, so I tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. I am aware of the players statement where he mentions ‘I grabbed him from behind’ but I simply tapped him on the shoulder. His security then back handed me in the face without looking back, in front of a crowd. Nearly knocking me down and causing my glasses [to fall] off my face.”
Billboard reached out to Spears’ camp and to the Spurs organization on Thursday and has not heard back as of press time.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama said Thursday (July 6) he believes Britney Spears grabbed him from behind as he was walking into a restaurant at a Las Vegas casino, and that the security detail he was with pushed the pop star away.
Wembanyama said he wasn’t told that Spears was the person who grabbed him until hours later.
Spears filed a police report saying she was struck by a security guard while trying to get the attention of Wembanyama, a person with knowledge of the matter said Thursday. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the police report had yet to be released publicly.
Spears’ representatives did not respond to a request for comment and police officials did not immediately return a message seeking more details. Wembanyama said security advised him to not stop for anyone as he walked into the restaurant, mindful that pausing could cause a stir and allow a crowd to build.
“Something did happen, a little bit, when I was walking with some security from the team to some restaurant,” Wembanyama said. “We were in the hall. There was a lot of people, so people were calling [at] me, obviously. There was one person who was calling me but we talked before with security.
“I couldn’t stop. That person was calling me, ‘Sir, sir,’ and that person grabbed me from behind,” Wembanyama said. “I didn’t see what happened because I was walking straight and didn’t stop. That person grabbed me from behind — not on my shoulder, she grabbed me from behind. I just know the security pushed her away. I don’t know with how much force but security pushed her away. I didn’t stop to look so I could walk in and enjoy a nice dinner.”
TMZ first reported details of the event that took place Wednesday night near a restaurant at the ARIA hotel and casino. TMZ said Spears was in a group of four trying to enter a restaurant for dinner and that she “was swarmed by fans as she entered the casino.” TMZ said she noticed Wembanyama and tapped him on the shoulder in an effort to get his attention; Spears, the site said, wound up being struck in the face and having her glasses knocked off.
“I didn’t know for a couple hours, but when I came back to the hotel … I thought it was no big deal, and then security of the Spurs told me it was Britney Spears,” Wembanyama said. “At first, I was like, ‘You’re joking,’ but yeah, it turns out it was Britney Spears. I never saw her face. I just kept walking straight.”
He was unaware that the situation had made headlines until Thursday.
“I saw the news obviously this morning. I woke up to a couple of phone calls,” Wembanyama said.
Wembanyama will make his NBA Summer League debut with the Spurs on Friday night in Las Vegas against the Charlotte Hornets. He signed some autographs for fans at the ARIA on Wednesday night and did the same for a small number of onlookers as he entered a local high school for practice with the Spurs on Thursday morning.
Kanye West is facing another lawsuit about unsafe conditions at his Donda Academy, including that the bizarre allegation that the school lacked windows because the embattled rapper “did not like glass.”
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In a lawsuit filed Thursday (July 6) in Los Angeles, former Donda Academy gym teacher Isaiah Meadows says he was unfairly fired after he raised concerns about inconsistent pay and serious health and safety issues — allegedly including overflowing sceptic tanks and dangerous electrical fires.
The new case came just three months after a group of other former Donda employees filed a similar case against West (who legally changed his name to Ye) and his private school, alleging they had been terminated after complaining about shoddy pay and bad conditions.
Like the previous case, the new lawsuit paints a strange picture of life inside West’s school and the Yeezy Christian Academy that preceded it. In one accusation, Meadows says students were left “exposed to the elements” because the rapper refused to allow glass to be placed in the building’s window frames.
“In the middle of the main classroom, a skylight was left without glass inevitably allowing rain to fall directly inside, where water would soak into the floor, which would lead to a moldy smell for the next few days,” Meadows’ lawyers wrote. “The skylight was intentionally without glass because WEST expressed that he did not like glass.”
He also claims that the school had “serious wiring issues,” leading to an incident in which an electrical fire was sparked “near the student eating area where wire was laid atop the ground, exposed.” Plumbing was allegedly also a problem, including a sceptic tank that would “overflow every other day, causing a terrible smell.”
In a statement announcing the new case, attorney Ron Zambrano called the conditions at Donda Academy “absolutely egregious” and said he and his client “plan to hold them accountable.”
“The unlawful and retaliatory behavior by Mr. West and the school directors have now been documented multiple times by other former employees who never even worked together but all experienced the same horrendous treatment and witnessed the same serious health, safety and education code violations, while all were subjected to the same fate,” Zambrano said.
In technical terms, the lawsuit accuses West, Donda Academy and others of breach of contract and of violation of several California labor laws, including wage rules, wrongful termination, and improper classification.
Donda Academy did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit. A representative for West individually could not immediately be located for comment.
Much like the new claims about glassless windows, the earlier case against Donda included its own allegations about conditions at the school. The former teachers claimed that students were allowed to only eat sushi; that all students were required to wear black; and, oddest of all, that students were also not allowed on the second floor because West was “reportedly afraid of stairs.”
That case, filed by the same attorneys on behalf of former teachers Cecilia Hailey, Chekarey Byers and Timanii Meeks, is still pending.
Colombian urban artist Ryan Castro has sued King Records, the indie label belonging to fellow Colombian artist Kevin Roldán for breach of contract of his management and label agreements in two separate complaints. The lawsuits — filed in Medellín, Colombia, in April and May, respectively — both name King Records, which is Roldán’s label.
A third suit, arguing breach of contract in terms of publishing agreements, is expected to be filed in the coming weeks, according to Castro’s attorney and manager, Leo Arango.
The lawsuits come as Castro is hitting new career highs. On July 7, he’s slated to release a new single, “Chimba de reggaetón” with Mexican star Peso Pluma (to be distributed by Sony Latin), while earlier this year he released both the “Corazón Roto” remix with Brray and Jhayco and “Ojitos Rojos” with Blessd. Additionally, he was named a Billboard “Latin Artist on the Rise” in June 2022.
The complaints mark the latest developments in the short relationship between Castro and Roldán, which started off on a positive note back in July 2020, when Castro signed management, recording and publishing contracts with Roldán’s company, King Records.
However, by 2021, the suit claims that Castro was requesting, and not receiving, financial statements from the label. In November 2021, in an effort to mend things between the two artists, says the suit, the two signed a separate agreement to create a new company, Awoo King Records. Under that agreement, the lawsuit alleges, Castro would have a 50% interest in the company and a majority share in revenue. However, Roldán would still control the finances of the company for the first year.
Castro’s career flourished thanks to hit singles like “Mujeriego,” which was distributed by Sony Music Latin. However, the suit alleges that Awoo King Records was still not providing proper accounting to Castro, who says he was still owed monies from King Records. The complaint further alleges that in August 2022, Castro’s attorneys realized that funds from Awoo King Records had been taken out of the company without Castro’s knowledge or authorization, draining some of the money needed to support his career.
After Roldán allegedly refused to give Castro the reins of the company, Castro sued. In his complaint, he claims he is owed money from digital distribution agreements and royalties and that the alleged financial improprieties have hurt his career.
A tribunal in Medellín is expected to hear the first of the two filed complaints in the coming weeks.
Arango says the legal issues aren’t impeding Castro’s ability to work or record, however. Aside from preparing the release of his single with Peso Pluma, he says Castro is also working on an album, likely due at the end of the year.
Roldán’s attorney, Pold Alexander, declined to comment for the story.
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Rapper Quando Rondo has bonded out of jail after he was indicted on drug and gang charges in his hometown of Savannah. Court records show a judge granted a $100,000 bond for the 24-year-old rapper, whose given name is Tyquian Terrel Bowman. He was released Monday, according to the Chatham County […]
The rapper Casanova has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison on federal racketeering conspiracy and drug charges related to his involvement in what prosecutors called “a vicious street gang.”
A New York federal judge on Tuesday (June 27) sentenced the artist (real name Caswell Senior) to 188 months in prison after he pleaded guilty last year to one charge under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), as well as a charge of conspiracy to distribute over 100 kilograms of marijuana.
Casanova, a Brooklyn rapper once signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, was one of 18 men charged in 2020 for their alleged roles in the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation gang, which prosecutors said “committed terrible acts of violence” across the New York City region.
“Caswell Senior is not just a notorious recording artist, but he is also a high-profile leader of a vicious street gang and a magnet for gang violence,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement after the sentencing, adding that Casanova’s stature had helped the gang recruit and expand nationwide. “Gang life is not worth it and will lead to many years in prison.”
Prior to the criminal charges, Casanova had been an up-and-coming artist, peaking at No. 3 on Billboard’s Next Big Sound chart in 2019 after the release of his album Behind These Scars. Chatting with Billboard at the time, Casanova said he was hopeful for the future, but knew that his past could return to haunt him: “People will always blame you for your past. I’m ok with that; I just have to fight harder. I have to do more to get recognized.”
In December 2020, he was one of 18 defendants named in the sweeping RICO case over Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation, which prosecutors said operated a violent narcotics operation across the NYC metro area, including the murder of a teenage boy in Poughkeepsie. The allegations even included “brazen fraud” for exploiting benefits programs providing assistance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In May 2022, Casanova pleaded guilty to the RICO conspiracy charge and the drug charge. Among other things, he admitted to participating in a July 2020 shootout at a crowded Miami house party in which he personally shot a man, leaving the victim seriously injured.
Ahead of Tuesday’s sentencing, federal prosecutors requested a prison term ranging from 188 to 235 months, calling Casanova “a high-profile gang leader” who had “amplified the message of the gang” through his music, helping to recruit “a generation of new members.”
“He did not simply pretend to be violent in his music or on social media,” the government wrote. “Unfortunately, he walked the walk. Senior’s offense conduct is not about a few song lyrics or how he marketed his music. Rather, he carried out an array of violent activity and significant narcotics trafficking that benefited some of the gang’s most violent and impactful members.”
Casanova’s attorneys argued that he should receive a sentence well below those guidelines. They said he was “not involved in the gang’s daily activities” and had begun “to distance himself” from the group as his music career took off, including having “denounced gang life” in some public statements.
“The fact is that Mr. Senior stayed in this gang as it furthered his rap career,” Casanova’s lawyers wrote. “As he gained moderate success and then a recording contract with Roc Nation, he increasingly separated himself from the gang’s activities despite remaining a member.”
In a statement to Billboard on Wednesday, Casanova’s lawyer, James Kousouros, said he and his client were “gratified that the court acknowledged the productive messages that Mr. Senior had been giving against gang life over the past several years and sentenced him to the lowest end of the guidelines.”
Lawyers for alcohol giant Diageo are demanding that a judge toss out a lawsuit from Sean “Diddy” Combs that accuses the company of racism, calling it “false and reckless” and driven by an effort to “extract additional billions” from the company.
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Combs sued in May, claiming Diageo breached his partnership deal for DeLeon Tequila by failing to properly support the brand. But he went a lot further than that, also leveling accusations of racism and claiming Diageo had treated his product line “worse than others because he is Black.”
In the company’s first response to the lawsuit on Tuesday (June 27), Diageo’s lawyers didn’t exactly hold back, either. They called the Diddy’s lawsuit a “bad faith, sham action” filed by a star who had “amassed nearly one billion dollars” from their partnership but now wanted to “extract” billions more.
“These allegations are nothing more than opportunistic attempts to garner press attention and distract the court from the fact that plaintiff’s breach-of-contract claim is entirely without merit,” the company’s attorneys wrote. “Diageo categorically denies these accusations.”
In a statement on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Diageo echoed the message of the company’s legal filing — and said Diageo had permanently cut ties with the rapper.
“Mr. Combs’ bad-faith actions have clearly breached his contracts and left us no choice but to move to dismiss his baseless complaint and end our business relationship,” the company wrote. “Mr. Combs has repeatedly undermined our partnerships and threatened to publicly defame Diageo if we did not meet his unreasonable financial demands.”
In his lawsuit, filed on May 31, attorneys for Diddy’s Combs Wines and Spirits claimed that Diageo had “typecast” his DeLeon as a “Black brand” that could only be sold to “urban” consumers, harming its sales and leaving it lagging behind competing Diageo brands like Casamigos and Don Julio.
“Cloaking itself in the language of diversity and equality is good for Diageo’s business, but it is a lie,” Combs’ lawyers wrote. “While Diageo may conspicuously include images of its Black partners in advertising materials and press releases, its words only provide the illusion of inclusion.”
But in Tuesday’s response, Diageo said those bombastic allegations were just a distraction from a run-of-the-mill business dispute that should have been handled under a binding arbitration agreement that both sides signed. They asked the judge to either dismiss the case or order that it be resolved through that private arbitration process.
“Without its inflammatory rhetoric and false accusations, the complaint is nothing but a garden-variety, and eminently arbitrable, suit alleging breach of contract,” Diageo wrote.
And when it comes to that “garden variety” business dispute, Diageo says it was Combs who was clearly in the wrong. The company claims he was “an unreliable and untrustworthy business partner” who failed to provide sufficient support to help DeLeon thrive, while Diageo supplied over $100 million for the project.
“Unwilling or unable to provide funding for the mutual benefit of the parties and the DeLeón brand, in mid-2020 Combs began to issue threats to damage the brand and defame Diageo and its executives and employees by publicly claiming that DeLeón’s failure to thrive was due to a racial animus against him,” Diageo’s lawyers wrote.
In a statement to Billboard on Tuesday, Combs’ attorney John C. Hueston sharply criticized Diageo’s claims that it was terminating its partnership with the star, saying it was akin to “firing a whistleblower who calls out racism.”
“Over the years, he has repeatedly raised concerns as senior executives uttered racially insensitive comments and made biased decisions based on that point of view,” Hueston said. “Diageo even acknowledged the problem by agreeing in his contract to treat DeLeon the same way it treated their other tequila brands. He brought the lawsuit to force them to live up to that contract, and instead they respond by trying to get rid of him. This lawsuit and Mr. Combs are not going away.”
The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it would not take up a lawsuit claiming Google stole millions of song lyrics from the music database Genius.
Genius — a popular platform that lets users add and annotate lyrics — had asked the justice to revive allegations that Google improperly used the site’s carefully-transcribed content for its search results. The company argued that a ruling dismissing the case last year had been “unjust” and “absurd.”
But in an order dated Monday, the court denied Genius’s petition to hear the case, cementing Google’s victory. As is typical, the court did not issue a written ruling explaining the denial. Such petitions are always a long shot, as the Supreme Court takes less than 2% of the 7000 cases it receives each year.
Genius sued the tech giant in 2019, claiming Google had stolen the site’s carefully-transcribed content for its own “information boxes” that appear alongside search results — essentially free-riding on the “time, labor, systems and resources” that go into creating such a service. In a splashy twist, Genius said it had used a secret code buried within lyrics that spelled out REDHANDED to prove Google’s wrongdoing.
Though it sounds like a copyright case, Genius didn’t actually accuse Google of stealing any intellectual property. That’s because it doesn’t own any; songwriters and publishers own the rights to lyrics, and both Google and Genius pay for the same licenses to display them. Instead, Genius argued it had spent time and money transcribing and compiling “authoritative” versions of lyrics, and that Google had breached the site’s terms of service by “exploiting” them without permission.
In March 2022, that distinction proved fatal for Genius. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dismissed the case, ruling that only the actual copyright owners — songwriters or publishers — could have filed such a case, not a site that merely transcribed the lyrics. In technical terms, the court said the case was “preempted” by federal copyright law, meaning that the accusations from Genius were so similar to a copyright claim that they could only have been filed that way.
In taking the case to the Supreme Court, Genius argued the ruling would be a disaster for websites that spend time and money to aggregate user-generated content online. Such companies should be allowed to protect that effort against clear copycats, the company said, even if they don’t hold the copyright. “Big-tech companies like Google don’t need any assists from an overly broad view of copyright preemption,” the company wrote.
But last month, the U.S. Solicitor General advised the Supreme Court to steer clear of the case. It said Genius’s lawsuit was a “poor vehicle” for reviewing the issues in the case, and that the lower court did not appear to have done anything particularly novel when it dismissed the case against Google. Such recommendations are usually very influential on whether the justices decide to tackle a particular case.