The Legal Beat

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: A man who unsuccessfully sued Cardi B over an album cover agrees to repay her $350,000 legal bill; Kesha wins a major appellate ruling in her ongoing defamation battle with Dr. Luke; Dua Lipa’s copyright accusers drop their case for good; and much more.

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THE BIG STORY: Don’t Mess With Cardi B (Or Her Lawyers)

Omar Little, the notorious Baltimore stick-up man who robs drug dealers on HBO’s The Wire, once famously said: “You come at the king, you best not miss.” Well, that same sentiment seems to be increasingly true about Cardi B and her team of lawyers: If you come at her, you better be sure you’re ready for the consequences.

Back in 2017, a guy named Kevin Brophy did exactly that, suing the superstar for millions in damages. His case claimed that Cardi had left him “humiliated” after an image of his enormous back tattoo was inadvertently photoshopped onto the “raunchy” cover of her debut mixtape, Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1.

But now, six years later, it’s Brophy who’s paying Cardi, not the other way around.

Months after a federal jury rejected his lawsuit, Brophy agreed this week to hand over a whopping $350,000 in legal bills that the superstar spent defeating his case. He also agreed to voluntarily end his efforts to revive the case and waived any chance at a future appeal.

Why would he do all that? Go read our full story here to find out.

For Cardi, turning the tables on Brophy is just the latest financial trouncing of a legal opponent.

Late last month, a gossip blogger named Tasha K who made salacious claims against the rapper was forced to file for bankruptcy after Cardi B won more than $3 million in a defamation lawsuit against her. Shortly after Cardi won that verdict, she tweeted “imma come for everything” along with the acronym BBHMM — “bitch better have my money” — and then spent months chasing the cash, including seizing money from Tasha’s YouTube royalty account.

The takeaway? At least when it comes to legal matters: You come at the queen, you best not miss.

Other top stories this week…

KESHA v. DR. LUKE RULING – New York’s top appeals court handed a key victory to Kesha in her legal battle with Dr. Luke, making it more difficult for him to prove at a looming trial that she defamed the producer when she accused him of rape in 2014. The court said Dr. Luke was a “public figure,” meaning he will need to show that Kesha acted with “actual malice” when she made her statements — a notoriously difficult legal hurdle to clear.

DUA LIPA CASE CLOSED – A Florida reggae band called Artikal Sound System decided to drop its copyright case accusing Dua Lipa of copying her smash hit song “Levitating” from their earlier track. The move — a unilateral capitulation, not a confidential cash settlement — came just days after a federal judge cast serious doubt on whether Artikal would be able to prove that Lipa ever even heard the song she was accused of stealing.

JIMMIE ALLEN SUED AGAIN – The country star was hit with a second sexual abuse lawsuit, claiming he assaulted a woman in a Las Vegas hotel room and filmed the encounter without permission. The case came a month after Allen was accused of sexually harassing and raping a woman on his management team. Allen has strongly denied the allegations and has vowed to “mount a vigorous defense.”

TORY LANEZ SENTENCING – Los Angeles prosecutors formally asked a judge to impose a 13-year prison sentence on Tory Lanez after he was convicted last year of shooting Megan Thee Stallion, telling a judge that Lanez had “waged a campaign to humiliate and re-traumatize the victim” in the wake of the 2020 incident. Sentencing had been set for this week but was rescheduled to Aug 7.

MUSIC AS SEX DISCRIMINATION – The Ninth Circuit issued a first-of-its-kind ruling that said blasting music with “sexually graphic” and “violently misogynistic” lyrics in a workplace could violate federal discrimination laws. Reviving a case against a company that played songs like Too $hort‘s “Blowjob Betty” and Eminem‘s “Stan” at its Nevada warehouse, the court said the music potentially created a “hostile or abusive environment.”

COURT RIPS BAD SETTLEMENT – In another big music ruling, the Ninth Circuit overturned a class action settlement in a royalties lawsuit against the relaunched Napster, sharply criticizing an “unreasonable” deal that secured just $53,000 for songwriters while paying their lawyers a whopping $1.7 million in legal fees. The court said that paying attorneys “more than 30 times the amount that the class received” was likely to “make the average person shake her head in disbelief.”

YOUTUBE CASE DROPPED – Just a day before it had been set to go to trial, a Grammy Award-winning composer dropped her closely-watched lawsuit against YouTube over access to its anti-piracy tools like Content ID. The ruling came weeks after a federal judge gutted the case by refusing to let it move forward as a class action — a ruling the composer had said would “gravely undermine” the goals of her lawsuit.

ASTROWORLD GAG ORDER STANDS – A Texas appeals court refused to lift a strict gag order on the lawsuit over the deadly 2021 disaster at Travis Scott‘s Astroworld festival. The court was unmoved by arguments from ABC News, which argued that the “sweeping” restrictions clearly violated the First Amendment’s protections on free speech and had created a “news desert” in which almost no reliable information about an important case is being shared with the public.

COVID RELIEF HIJINKS? The owners of a small Palm Springs, Calif., venue filed a lawsuit against Marc Geiger and his company SaveLive, claiming the former WME agent deceived them into accepting an investment in their venue during the COVID-19 pandemic as part of a ruse to take over the business without paying a fair price.

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: Prosecutors move to seize R. Kelly’s funds held by Sony Music and Universal Music Publishing Group; Dua Lipa wins the first round in her copyright battle over “Levitating”; a federal judge rules that Tennessee’s anti-drag law is unconstitutional; and much more.

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THE BIG STORY: Feds Move to Seize R. Kelly’s Royalty Funds

In the wake of criminal convictions that will see him spend decades in prison, R. Kelly is also facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and restitution payments. Last week, the feds told his record label and music publisher to help him pay up.

Prosecutors in Brooklyn asked a federal judge for so-called writs of garnishment against Sony Music and Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) — court orders that would compel the two companies to hand over funds tied to Kelly. The two companies are “in possession of property” belonging to Kelly, the filing said, that could be used to pay down the $504,289 he owes to victims and the government.

It’s unclear how much Sony Music and UMPG are holding in Kelly-tied money, but the feds aren’t the only ones trying to get at it.

R. Kelly victim Heather Williams, who won a $4 million civil judgment against the singer, is also seeking to tap into the Sony Music account — as is Midwest Commercial Funding, a property management company that won a separate $3.5 million ruling against Kelly over unpaid rent at a Chicago studio.

In March, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that Williams had priority to the funds over Midwest Commercial Funding because she was the first to properly demand the money from Sony. But that ruling left unclear whether she’ll enjoy similar priority over federal prosecutors.

For the full story, go read the entire article, which includes access to the full legal documents filed in court.

Other top stories this week…

DUA LIPA WINS ROUND ONE – A federal judge cast serious doubts on a copyright lawsuit claiming Dua Lipa stole her smash hit song “Levitating” from a little-known reggae track by a band called Artikal Sound System, saying she’s seen no evidence that Lipa ever even heard the song she’s accused of copying.

ADIDAS DROPS YEEZY MONEY CASE – And just like that, it was over. After a whirlwind week of litigation, Adidas abruptly dropped a federal court case aimed at freezing $75 million held by Kanye West’s Yeezy brand. But the two companies will continue to battle it out in a private arbitration case, in which Adidas will likely argue that West’s “offensive conduct” caused the breakdown of their long-standing partnership.

KANYE SUED OVER PAPS CLASH – In other Kanye legal news, the embattled rapper was hit with a civil assault lawsuit over an alleged incident in which the rapper grabbed a paparazzo’s phone and threw it into traffic.

TENN. DRAG LAW RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL – A federal judge ruled that Tennessee’s first-in-the-nation law restricting drag shows violates the First Amendment, barring prosecutors in Memphis from enforcing the new statute and sending the closely-watched legal battle to a federal appeals court.

DIDDY ACCUSES BOOZE GIANT OF RACISM – Sean “Diddy” Combs filed a scathing lawsuit against alcohol giant Diageo for allegedly breaching their partnership deal for a brand of tequila, leveling accusations of racism at the company and claiming it has treated his product line “worse than others because he is Black.”

HOV WINS $7M OVER COLOGNE DEAL – A New York state appeals court sided with Jay-Z in his long legal battle against a fragrance company called Parlux over a cologne endorsement deal that went bad, ordering the company to pay him nearly $7 million in unpaid royalties.

PRODUCER ACCUSED OF HARASSMENT – A new lawsuit filed in Los Angeles claims that Grammy-nominated dance music producer and DJ Paul Oakenfold repeatedly masturbated in front of his former personal assistant. He quickly denied the accusations, calling them “a calculated attempt to tarnish my reputation and extort money.”

SHEERAN CASE HEADS TO APPEAL – A month after Ed Sheeran won a high-profile jury verdict that his “Thinking Out Loud” did not infringe Marvin Gaye‘s “Let’s Get It On,” his copyright accusers formally launched their appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit.

INDIE ROCKERS SETTLE CEREAL SPAT – The band OK Go reached a confidential settlement to end a bizarre legal battle with Post Foods over a new line of on-the-go cereal packages called “OK Go!,” which the band believed infringed the trademark rights to its name.

K-POP INSIDER TRADING? – Three employees at the record label HYBE could reportedly be prosecuted for insider trading in South Korea for allegedly using non-public information about K-pop group BTS’ planned hiatus before the news was given to investors.

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: A messy legal battle between Adidas and Kanye West spills into the open; a YouTuber who defamed Cardi B declares bankruptcy to avoid a $4 million judgment; prosecutors call for a harsh sentence against Tory Lanez over the Megan Thee Stallion shooting; and much more.

THE BIG STORY: Adidas v. Kanye

Thanks to newly-unsealed court records, the messy legal fallout from Kanye West’s high-profile split with Adidas is now coming into view.

Federal court records obtained by Billboard last week show that Adidas launched private arbitration proceedings last fall, shortly after the company terminated its long-standing partnership with West and his Yeezy brand in the wake of the rapper’s antisemitic statements. As part of that case, the company secretly sought – and won – an “attachment” order from a federal judge, freezing $75 million in Adidas money that’s allegedly sitting in Yeezy bank accounts.

Secretly? Yes, this case is a treasure trove for legal procedure nerds. The case was not only filed under seal and kept that way for months, but also on a so-called ex parte basis — meaning the judge issued the freeze without giving West or Yeezy a chance to make counter-arguments, saying there was a risk the rapper would have moved the money if given advanced notice.

But now, the case is spilling into the open. In a ruling earlier this month that unsealed the record, the judge cited the fact that Kanye himself had once mentioned the litigation on social media. And in a ruling Friday, that same judge overturned the ex parte freeze entirely, saying Adidas had failed to meet procedural requirements and had “deprived” Yeezy of a fair chance to fight back.

In the wake of that order, lawyers for Adidas are currently scrambling, seeking to have a new freeze imposed on the company. We’ll update you when we know more, so stay tuned.

Other top stories…

MORE KANYE PROBLEMS – Adidas isn’t the only former business partner in litigation with West. The Gap filed a case earlier in the week, alleging the rapper made unapproved changes to a Los Angeles retail location that resulted in an expensive lawsuit from the building’s owner.

B*TCH BETTER HAVE MY MONEY? – Eighteen months after Cardi B won a $4 million defamation verdict over salacious claims made by a YouTube host named Tasha K, the gossip blogger filed for bankruptcy, saying she has less than $60,000 in total assets to pay out.

FETTY WAP GETS SIX YEARS – The “Trap Queen” star was ordered to spend six years in federal prison, after pleading guilty last year to federal drug charges. His attorneys had asked for only a five-year sentence; prosecutors wanted as many as nine, citing music that they said had helped “glamorize the drug trade.”

GENIUS v. GOOGLE AT SCOTUS – The Department of Justice urged the U.S. Supreme Court to avoid a case alleging Google stole millions of song lyrics from the music database Genius, calling it a “poor vehicle” for a high court showdown.

TORY LANEZ SENTENCE LOOMS – Los Angeles prosecutors asked a judge to impose a harsh sentence against rapper Tory Lanez after he was convicted last year of shooting Megan Thee Stallion, arguing he behaved with “indifference for human life” at a moment when Megan was “particularly vulnerable.”

GOOGLE FACES $32M PATENT VERDICT – A federal jury ordered the tech giant to pay Sonos the huge sum for infringing one of its smart speaker patents, awarding the smaller company $2.30 for each of the more than 14 million Google devices that were sold incorporating the patented technology.

MIGOS ALLEGED KILLER INDICTED – A Texas grand jury formally issued a murder indictment against Patrick Xavier Clark, the man who was arrested and charged last year in the slaying of Migos rapper TakeOff.

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: Lawyers for Fetty Wap battle with prosecutors ahead of his sentencing over federal drug charges; the Supreme Court issues a major copyright ruling on Andy Warhol’s images of Prince; Ed Sheeran wins another lawsuit over “Let’s Get It On”; and much more.

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THE BIG STORY: Fetty Wap Faces Drug Sentencing

With Fetty Wap facing sentencing this week for his conviction on federal drug charges, the rapper’s lawyers and prosecutors are battling over how much prison time he should receive — and in the process, they’ve dipped into one of music’s biggest legal controversies.

Attorneys for the rapper, who pleaded guilty in August to participating in “a multimillion-dollar bicoastal drug distribution organization,” asked a judge last week to sentence him to just five years — the minimum under the law. They say he only turned to crime to support family members as his touring income dried up during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But prosecutors quickly fired back with a darker story: Of a successful musician who had already earned millions but chose to “supplement his income” by selling “drugs he knew would ruin lives.” And notably, they cited Fetty’s music itself, claiming he should receive a harsher punishment in part because he used his songs to “glamorize the drug trade.”

“Before his arrest, the defendant became famous singing about his experience cooking crack cocaine, selling drugs and making substantial money from those illegal endeavors,” prosecutors wrote. “Young people who admire the defendant and are considering selling drugs need to be sent a message.”

If you’ve been following music law for the past year, you’ll know that’s a controversial move.

After a high-profile gang indictment against Young Thug in Atlanta, the use of rap lyrics in criminal cases has come under increasing scrutiny. Critics say references to drugs and violence are stock elements of hip-hop and should not be treated literally — and that by doing so, prosecutors infringe on free speech and sway courts with unfair evidence, with predictably disproportionate harm inflicted on Black artists.

Lawmakers in California recently enacted a law that sharply restricts the practice, and legislators in New York seem poised to pass a similar bill later this year. A federal bill to limit when lyrics can be used in cases like the one against Fetty Wap was re-introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives last month but faces a less clear path to passage than the state-level measures.

To get the full story, including the actual legal documents filed by both sides, go read our full articles on the sentencing recommendations from Fetty Wap and from prosecutors.

Other top stories…

SCOTUS RULES ON WARHOL & FAIR USE – Ruling on a case that record labels and publishers called “critical to the American music industry,” the U.S. Supreme Court said that Andy Warhol did not make “fair use” of a photographer’s copyrights when he used her images of Prince to create one of his distinctive screen prints. The ruling essentially maintained the status quo for music companies, who feared that a decision for Warhol could have disrupted industry practices for sampling, or possibly given legal cover for AI companies to use copyrighted songs.

JIMI HENDRIX DISPUTES HEADS TO UK – A transatlantic legal battle between Jimi Hendrix’s estate and his former bandmates — over control of the rights to music created by the trio’s Jimi Hendrix Experience — is going to be fought primarily in London for now, after a U.S. federal judge ruled that she would defer to the British courts.

ED SHEERAN WINS AGAIN – Less than two weeks after Ed Sheeran won a blockbuster jury trial over whether his “Thinking Out Loud” infringed Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On,” a federal judge dismissed a second, closely-related copyright case accusing him of copying the same iconic song.

YOUTUBE WON’T FACE CLASS ACTION – A federal judge dealt a major blow to a lawsuit that claims YouTube enables piracy by restricting access to copyright tools like Content ID, refusing to allow the case to proceed as a class action that could have included tens of thousands of rightsholders.

FACIAL-RECOGNITION FIGHT CONTINUES – The owner of Madison Square Garden Entertainment filed a new legal action demanding access to the phone records of a New York state liquor investigator, opening a new front in a sprawling legal war over the use of facial recognition technology to ban lawyers from venues.

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: Post Malone reaches a last-minute settlement to avoid trial in a closely-watched copyright case over his smash hit “Circles”; Bad Bunny faces a lawsuit from an ex-girlfriend over his alleged use of a recording of her voice in songs; a federal appeals court upholds Cardi B’s defamation verdict against a gossip blogger; and much more.

THE BIG STORY: The Big Post Malone Trial … That Didn’t Happen

This morning, I was ready to tell you all about The Next Big Music Trial.

Set to run all this week, it was going to pit Post Malone against Tyler Armes, a musician who claims that he co-wrote the superstar’s chart-topping song “Circles” but was unfairly cut out of the credits. Billboard had reporters at the courthouse, and the case had it all: dramatic text message exchanges; a fateful all-night studio session; thorny questions about who owns what when a song gets written; and much more.

But now, there’s one big thing the case won’t have: a trial.

Minutes before the proceedings were set to start in Los Angeles federal court Tuesday (March 21), a settlement was reached. The judge jokingly waved goodbye to media members gathered to cover the case, and staffers could later be seen wheeling out musical equipment that was set to be utilized during the trial. What a letdown.

The specific terms of the settlement aren’t yet known, and neither side is commenting; we’ll keep an eye out to see if any credits for “Circles” are changed in the coming months. And I’ll let you know about the Next Big Music Trial — for real this time.

To get the full story, go read our full deep-dive breakdown of the case against Malone and our breaking news story about today’s big settlement.

Other top stories this week…

BAD BUNNY FACES VOICE LAWSUIT – Bad Bunny was sued by an ex-girlfriend who says he violated the law by using a recording of her uttering a now-famous catchphrase — “Bad Bunny Baby” — in two of his songs without her consent.

CARDI B’S LIBEL VERDICT AFFIRMED – A federal appeals court upheld Cardi B’s $4 million defamation verdict against Tasha K, a gossip blogger who made salacious false claims about the rapper on YouTube and social media concerning drug use, STDs and prostitution.

CHER v. MARY BONO MOVES AHEAD – More than a year after Cher sued Sonny Bono’s widow, Mary Bono, over a messy mix of royalties, termination rights and divorce law, a federal judge issued an initial ruling refusing to dismiss the case.

XXXTENTACION KILLERS CONVICTED – Three men were found guilty of the 2018 killing of star rapper XXXTentacion, who was shot outside a South Florida motorcycle shop while being robbed of $50,000; all three now face mandatory life sentences. The convictions came after a jury trial that was sometimes overshadowed by defense attorneys’ unsuccessful efforts to pull Drake into the proceedings over his alleged beef with the late rapper.

“THEY DO NOT SOUND ALIKE” – Nickelback beat a copyright lawsuit claiming the band ripped off its 2006 hit “Rockstar” from an earlier song called “Rock Star.” A judge ruled there was zero evidence that the band’s frontman, Chad Kroeger, ever heard the earlier song, adding that the two tracks simply “do not sound alike.”

THE WEEKND SETTLES COPYRIGHT FIGHT – Suniel Fox and Henry Strange, two musicians who sued The Weeknd for allegedly stealing key elements of his 2018 track “Call Out My Name,” reached a settlement with the superstar to end the lawsuit.

YOU KNOW YOU MAKE ME WANNA SUE – The Isley Brothers member Rudolph Isley filed a lawsuit against his brother Ronald Isley, accusing him of improperly attempting to secure a federal trademark registration on the “The Isley Brothers” — even though the name is supposed to be jointly owned.

COPYRIGHTS FOR AI SONGS? – Amid growing interest in the role that could be played in the music industry by “generative AI” tools similar to ChatGPT, a new report from the Copyright Office aimed to offer clarity on when such works can be protected by copyrights — and hinted that a more sweeping study might be in the works.

JAMES DOLAN v. EVERYBODY – Madison Square Garden filed a lawsuit challenging efforts by New York state regulators to revoke the company’s liquor licenses over its use of facial recognition technology, marking the latest defiant act by MSG chairman James Dolan in his increasingly sprawling battle to ban plaintiffs lawyers from his venues.

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: A deep-dive into the messy – and litigious – situation inside the iconic 80s rock band Journey; an update on YNW Melly’s death-penalty case at the Florida Supreme Court; a sudden dismissal of a copyright lawsuit against Benny Blanco, Ed Sheeran and others; and much more.

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THE BIG STORY: Don’t Stop Litigatin’

If you read one thing this week, make it Steve Knopper’s long Billboard story about the simmering problems inside Journey — an epic tale of internal dysfunction among members of an iconic band that’s still printing money decades after its “Don’t Stop Believing” heyday.

The story has it all: dueling security guards in green rooms; a multi-million-dollar pay-per-view wedding; a trail of fired managers and staffers; and an absolute all-timer quote: “This is Neal. I am fucking your wife.” But above all else, it has lawsuits — ranging from divorce to defamation to intellectual property to assault.

Sure, there’s the current battle between lead guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Jonathan Cain over a disputed American Express card. But there’s also the lawsuit filed against Live Nation over an alleged assault on Schon’s wife, a case alleging a “coup” by former bandmates Steve Smith and bassist Ross Valory, a trademark dispute with former frontman Steve Perry and much more.

For the full breakdown of the crisis inside Journey, go read the entire story here.

Other top stories this week…

DEATH PENALTY DISPUTE – Prosecutors urged the Florida Supreme Court to reject an appeal by YNW Melly from a ruling last year that said he could face the death penalty if convicted at an upcoming murder trial. The rapper says the state forfeited the right to seek the death penalty by failing to give proper notice, but prosecutors say he “suffered no harm.”

MARILYN MANSON UPDATE – A week after one of Marilyn Manson’s sexual assault accusers recanted her allegations, a judge ruled that the sudden reversal couldn’t be used as evidence in Manson’s defamation lawsuit against his ex-fiance Evan Rachel Wood. The move came after Wood’s lawyers argued the “eleventh hour” revelation was just a “bad-faith” effort to save Manson’s case.

COPYRIGHT CASE CLOSED – Two songwriters who sued Benny Blanco, Halsey, Khalid and Ed Sheeran for copyright infringement over their 2018 hit “Eastside” suddenly dropped the lawsuit. The accusers told Billboard that they decided that continuing the case would have been “too costly, challenging, and risky for us”; but Blanco’s lawyer said the accusations were “baseless” and “never should have been made” in the first place.

PODCAST POT CLASH – Chris “Kit” Gray, the president and co-founder of PodcastOne, was hit with a lawsuit claiming he fired his executive assistant because she refused to ship cannabis products from California (where they’re legal) to his home in Florida (where they aren’t).

TRAVIS SCOTT’S NIGHTCLUB SCUFFLE – Police in New York sought to question rapper Travis Scott after he was accused of assaulting a sound engineer and causing $12,000 worth of damage to sound equipment at Manhattan nightclub Nebula. His reps called it “a misunderstanding being blown out of proportion” and stressed that no charges had been filed. Scott is expected to sit for questioning this week.

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: Lady Gaga somehow finds herself on the receiving end of a lawsuit over the theft of her French bulldog, Adam Levine accuses a classic car dealer of selling him a fake Maserati, one of Marilyn Manson’s accusers recants her abuse allegations, and much more.

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THE BIG STORY: Lady Gaga Sued Over Dog Theft Reward

A woman named Jennifer McBride says she deserves a huge reward for returning Lady Gaga’s bulldogs after they were stolen at gunpoint – even though she was also convicted of a criminal charge in connection with the high-profile dognapping.

In a lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles, McBride demanded that Gaga hand over a $500,000 reward she offered for the safe return of the dogs after the violent 2021 incident. It was McBride, after all, who delivered the dogs to the Los Angeles Police Department two days after Gaga’s dog walker Ryan Fischer was shot and nearly killed.

But there’s one small detail McBride’s lawyers left out of the complaint: In December, she pleaded no contest to receiving stolen property in connection with the dognapping, receiving a sentence of two years of probation.

McBride’s lawyers say it doesn’t matter: That Gaga made a binding “unilateral” offer to pay the reward in return for the safe return of the dogs with “no questions asked” — and McBride took her up on the proposal when she did so. Whether that argument will fly before a judge remains to be seen.

For a full breakdown of McBride’s case — including her full complaint and her arguments that she “fully performed her obligation” to Gaga — go read our entire story here.

Other top stories this week…

ADAM LEVINE’S FAKE MASERATI – Attorneys for Adam Levine filed a lawsuit claiming that a classic car dealer defrauded him by selling him a fake version of an uber-rare Maserati worth a whopping $850,000. The star’s attorneys say the seller took “active steps” to conceal red flags about the car, like phony stamped markings on its chassis.

MARILYN MANSON ACCUSER RECANTS – Ashley Morgan Smithline, a woman who previously sued Marilyn Manson for sexual assault, filed an explosive new document stating that her allegations against the rocker were untrue. Instead, Smithline claimed she had been “manipulated” by Manson’s ex-girlfriend, Evan Rachel Wood. A rep for Wood strongly denied the allegations.

ARREST WARRANT FOR KODAK BLACK – A Florida judge issued an arrest warrant for Kodak Black for failing a drug test while on bail for a drug charge. The rapper, facing trial over an oxycodone trafficking charge, allegedly failed to appear for a scheduled drug test in February and then days later submitted a sample that tested positive for fentanyl.

PRE-TRIAL SHOWDOWN OVER SHEERAN TAPE – Lawyers for Ed Sheeran’s copyright accusers fired back at the star’s efforts to ban an infamous YouTube clip from an upcoming trial over whether “Thinking Out Loud” infringed Marvin Gaye‘s “Let’s Get It On,” calling the video “among the most important and critical evidence in this case.”

NIPSEY HUSSLE KILLER GETS 60+ YEARS – A Los Angeles judge sentenced Eric Ronald Holder Jr. to at least 60 years in prison for gunning down rapper Nipsey Hussle. Holder was convicted in July of premeditated murder over the March 2019 shooting at a Los Angeles strip mall.

LIL PEEP WRONGFUL DEATH CASE SETTLED – The mother of late rapper Lil Peep reached a settlement in her wrongful death lawsuit against her son’s former label and management company, First Access Entertainment (FAE). The lawsuit claimed that Peep’s management team provided him with drugs and kept pushing him to perform even though he was “barely able to communicate.” Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

ACCUSER SAYS NICK CARTER AIMS TO “SILENCE” HER – Shannon “Shay” Ruth, a woman suing Nick Carter over accusations that he raped her in 2001, blasted the Backstreet Boys member for filing a defamation countersuit against her. In a so-called anti-SLAPP motion, Ruth said Carter’s countersuit had “no other purpose than to harass, intimate, and potentially silence plaintiff.”

FESTIVAL ORGANIZERS GO TO PRISON – Aaron McCreight and Doug Hargrave, two former Iowa tourism executives, were each sentenced to more than a year in prison after pleading guilty to bank fraud charges related to Newbo Evolve, a failed 2018 music festival headlined by Maroon 5 and Kelly Clarkson. The pair admitted to lying to a Cedar Rapids bank about projected ticket sales to secure more funding, even as the event appeared headed toward big losses.

BRONX RAPPER CHARGED WITH MURDER – Bronx drill rapper Kay Flock was charged by federal prosecutors with murder and racketeering along with seven other members of two Bronx street gangs, stemming from seven shootings in New York between June 2020 and February 2022. Flock faces a “mandatory life in prison or death” if convicted.

KELLY AVOIDS LENGTHY ADD-ON SENTENCE – A federal judge in Chicago sentenced R. Kelly to 20 years in prison for his convictions of child pornography and the enticement of minors for sex, but said the singer would serve all but one year simultaneously with an earlier 30-year sentence imposed last year on separate racketeering charges. The upshot is that Kelly is facing 31 years total and will be eligible for release at around age 80.

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: Eminem moves to block two Real Housewives from registering a “Shady” trademark, Drake’s deposition drama continues, Damon Dash wins a verdict clearing him of sexual assault, and much more.

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THE BIG STORY: Eminem Says He’s (Legally) The Real “Slim Shady”

If your 2023 bingo card had Eminem picking a legal fight with a pair of Real Housewives, I have some great news for you.

The rapper’s lawyers filed a case at the U.S. trademark office last week aimed at blocking Gizelle Bryant and Robyn Dixon (stars of The Real Housewives of Potomac) from securing a federal trademark registration on “Reasonably Shady,” the name of their hit podcast.

As you probably guessed, Eminem’s attorneys were concerned about the similarity of the name to  “Slim Shady” — a nickname the rapper has used for decades for a dark, violent alter ego. Given the overlap, they said consumers might be tricked into thinking Eminem was somehow involved with the podcast.

“Confusion is unavoidable,” the rapper’s lawyers wrote. “Applicant’s mark ‘Reasonably Shady’ simply looks and sounds like ‘Shady’ and suggests that it represents the services of Mathers.”

For a full breakdown of Eminem’s case — including all the actual legal documents and a response from Bryant and Dixon’s lawyer — go read our entire story here.

Other top stories this week…

DRAKE DEPOSITION SAGA CONTINUES – A Florida judge reversed himself and ruled that Drake wouldn’t need to sit for a deposition over the murder of XXXtentacion, seemingly swayed by the star’s arguments that he has no connection to the case. But the fight isn’t over quite yet, as defense attorneys are still pushing for a sit-down. Stay tuned…

CONDÉ SETTLES FAKE VOGUE SUIT – In other Drake developments, Condé Nast reached a settlement to end a lawsuit against the rapper and 21 Savage over their use of a fake Vogue magazine cover to promote their album Her Loss. The agreement included a permanent injunction barring any further use of the publisher’s trademarks as well as an undisclosed monetary payment.

DAME DASH TRIAL VERDICT – A jury mostly cleared Damon Dash in a case accusing the Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder of sexually assaulting a photographer. Following a four-day trial, the jurors found that Dash defamed Monique Bunn when he accused her of theft, but that he had not inappropriately touched her while she was sleeping at his house during a video project. Jurors awarded Bunn $30,000 in damages — far less than the $150 million she had sought.

R. KELLY CAN’T GET NEW TRIAL – A Chicago federal judge rejected R. Kelly’s bid to overturn his conviction last year on child pornography charges. Denying a motion for a new trial or acquittal, the judge ruled that prosecutors provided jurors with “enough evidence to sustain a guilty verdict on all six counts Kelly was convicted of.” Sentencing on those charges is set for Thursday (Feb. 23).

UTOPIA ACCUSED OF BAILING ON DEAL – Utopia Music was hit with a lawsuit claiming the buzzy music startup reneged on a $26.5 million deal to buy a U.S. music tech company called SourceAudio — and now owes more than $37 million because of the year-long delay. Switzerland-based Utopia had been on a buying spree over the past two years but announced in November that it would lay off 20% of its staff.