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: Nelly faces a copyright lawsuit over his decades-old album Country Grammar; T.I. and his wife Tiny win a shocking $71 million jury verdict against a toymaker; the Michael Jackson estate takes legal action against a sexual abuse accuser; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: A Legal Blast From The Past
Nearly a quarter century after Nelly’s breakout album, he’s now getting sued over it – and by his childhood friends, no less.
The case, filed by members of his early-career St. Lunatics group, claims that Nelly (Cornell Haynes) “manipulated” them into thinking they’d be paid for their work on the 2000 album Country Grammar, but that he ultimately cut them out of the credits and the royalty payments.
“Every time plaintiffs confronted defendant Haynes [he] would assure them as ‘friends’ he would never prevent them from receiving the financial success they were entitled to,” the lawsuit reads. “Unfortunately, plaintiffs, reasonably believing that their friend and former band member would never steal credit for writing the original compositions, did not initially pursue any legal remedies.”
Copyright lawsuits over years-old songs have become a common sight in the music industry over the past decade, thanks largely to a Supreme Court ruling that said such cases were mostly fair game. But the plaintiffs in the current case – which is styled as an infringement lawsuit but appears to really be more of a dispute over ownership – could still face hurdles over their long delay.
To understand why, go read our full story on the lawsuit, with access to the actual lawsuit filed against Nelly.
Other top stories this week…
NOT A TINY VERDICT – T.I. and his wife Tameka “Tiny” Harris won a stunning $71 million jury verdict in their lawsuit claiming that toymaker MGA stole the design of a line of “O.M.G.” toy dolls from their real-life teen pop group OMG Girlz. Following a three-week trial, a jury found that MGA infringed both the trade dress and the likeness rights of the OMG Girlz — a defunct trio created by Tiny featuring her daughter Zonnique “Star” Pullins.
JACKSON ESTATE ACTION – Michael Jackson’s estate filed an arbitration case against a man who it claims has threatened to resurface ugly abuse allegations ahead of the upcoming release of Michael, a biopic about the King of Pop. According to the estate, the accuser signed a never-before-reported settlement in 2020 that saw him paid $3.3 million in return for signing a non-disclosure agreement, but now he’s threatening to breach the deal if he’s not paid another $213 million.
DIDDY STAYS IN JAIL – Sean “Diddy” Combs was once again refused bail in his sex abuse case, after a federal judge ruled that the indicted rapper and music executive would pose a flight risk and might intimidate witnesses if released. His lawyers renewed their request to let him await trial on sex trafficking and racketeering charges under house arrest at his Miami mansion, but Judge Andrew L. Carter ruled Diddy must instead wait for the trial in a Brooklyn federal prison.
REASONABLE DOUBT? Raise your hand if you had “Jay-Z argues with New York City over arcane issues of intellectual property law” on your 2024 bingo card. With a court-ordered auction of Damon Dash’s stake in Roc-A-Fella Records looming, lawyers for the superstar and the city are somehow now wrangling over whether he can use copyright termination to retake control of his debut album Reasonable Doubt. That’s a crucial question for anyone who wants to buy Dash’s stake in Roc-A-Fella – and for a municipal government that’s trying to use the auction to recoup hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid child support.
DOLAN CASE TOSSED – A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing Madison Square Garden executive James Dolan of pressuring a masseuse into unwanted sex while his band toured with the Eagles, ruling that his accuser had failed to meet the requirements of a federal sex trafficking law. But the case, which also includes simpler, state-law allegations of sexual battery and aiding and abetting of sexual assault, will likely be refiled in state court.
SPICE SETTLEMENT – Ice Spice reached an agreement to end a copyright lawsuit over allegations that her recent hit “In Ha Mood” was copied from an earlier track called “In That Mood” by a Brooklyn rapper named D.Chamberz (Duval Chamberlain). Terms of the apparent settlement were not disclosed in court filings.
MANILOW BATTLE – Hipgnosis Songs Fund, one of the most influential players in the catalog acquisition market run-up of recent years, is locked in litigation with Barry Manilow – a two-way, trans-Atlantic legal battle that sheds light on the company’s 2020 deal to buy the singer’s royalty income. Billboard’s Elizabeth Dilts Marshall dove deep into the court filings and breaks it all down here.
