Diddy Trial Lawyers, Lil Durk Lyrics Dispute, Drake-UMG Lawsuit & More Top Legal News Stories
That is The Prison Beat, a weekly e-newsletter about tune legislation from Billboard Professional, providing you a one-stop cheat sheet of bulky unused instances, noteceable rulings and all of the a laugh stuff in between.
This day: A breakdown of the numerous legal professionals running at the Sean “Diddy” Combs litigation; a movement via Lil Durk to disregard his federal murder-for-hire fees; an up to date model of Drake’s lawsuit towards Common Song Team centered at the Tremendous Bowl; and a lot more.
THE BIG STORY: The Diddy Debacle’s Many, Many Legal professionals
To top off Billboard’s annual Manage Song Legal professionals listing, I dove deep into the numerous legal professionals concerned within the litigation towards Sean “Diddy” Combs over his alleged sexual abuse.
Unfold throughout a posh felony case and dozens of civil court cases in a couple of jurisdictions, the Combs litigation unsurprisingly comes to a slew of high-powered legal professionals, starting from veteran protection legal professionals to skilled sex-crimes prosecutors to a prolific plaintiff’s legal professional who says he represents greater than 100 sufferers. And that’s no longer even bringing up the BigLaw legal professionals leased to shield govern trade avid gamers who’ve been dragged — they are saying wrongly — into the messy litigation.
For the entire tale, which covers greater than 20 legal professionals in all, journey learn my full article here. And create certain to not omit the latest Top Lawyers list then that, detailing the govern tune trade legal professionals who’re making do business in, guiding shoppers and staring at out for AI.
Alternative govern tales this day…
IF THE SONG DOESN’T FIT – Lil Durk requested a federal pass judgement on to dismiss murder-for-hire fees, claiming prosecutors are bringing up tune lyrics as proof even if he wrote them greater than six months sooner than the alleged crime. Prosecutors had claimed ultimate yr that the Chicago drill megastar rapped about ordering his “OTF” team to homicide rival Quando Rondo, however his legal professionals stated that declare used to be “demonstrably false” and that the feds old such proof to deceive a magnificent jury: “Unless the government is prosecuting Banks on a theory of extra-sensory prescience, the lyrics could not have soundly informed the grand jury’s finding of probable cause,” Durks legal professionals wrote.
DRAKE v. UMG UPDATE – Drake filed an amended complaint in his defamation lawsuit towards Common Song Team over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” focusing closely at the Tremendous Bowl halftime display that took park then the untouched case used to be filed. Drake’s legal professionals say the verdict to censor the promise “pedophile” all through the printed had if truth be told helped his case: “Kendrick Lamar would not have been permitted to perform during the Super Bowl Performance unless the word ‘pedophile’… was omitted from the lyrics — that is because nearly everyone understands that it is defamatory to falsely brand someone a ‘certified pedophile’,” the megastar’s legal professionals wrote.
LEGAL R.I.P. – Song legal professional Joel Katz, for many years probably the most trade’s maximum tough figures, died ultimate day on the life of 80. An established apply staff chair on the company Greenberg Traurig, Katz represented a who’s who of govern tune executives over his profession, in addition to main artists (Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffett, Tim McGraw) and trade teams (Recording Academy and Nation Song Affiliation). Later Recording Academy head Deb Dugan accused Katz of sexual harassment in 2020 — an allegation he denied — he joined Barnes & Thornburg in 2021, the place he spent the extra of his profession. Walk learn Melinda Newman’s full obituary here, that includes reactions from across the trade.
DIDDY TRIAL DELAY DENIED – Pass judgement on Arun Subramanian denied a request via Diddy to prolong his intercourse trafficking and racketeering trial via two months, ruling that the advance used to be made too similar to trial. The megastar’s legal professionals had argued they didn’t have enough quantity occasion to arrange for trial then prosecutors added unused fees previous this pace. However the pass judgement on dominated that the unused indictment in large part overlapped with previous charging papers, telling Diddy’s legal professionals he discovered it “unclear why there isn’t sufficient time to prepare.”
SMOKING GUN OR ‘UNRELIABLE’? – In other places in Diddy-world, his legal professionals asked the judge to exclude the notorious 2016 surveillance video of him assaulting his former female friend Cassie Ventura from the trial, arguing it might “unfairly confuse and mislead the jury.” They declare the clip used to be edited via CNN and nearest the untouched used to be destroyed, escape best an “inaccurate, unreliable video” to play games for jurors: “The manipulation of the videos was specifically designed to inflame the passions of CNN’s viewing audience, and that is what the government is hoping to leverage in this case.”
DISASTER DEPOSITION – Megan Thee Stallion requested a federal pass judgement on to conserve Tory Lanez in contempt of court over “disruptive” and “inflammatory” habits all through a up to date deposition in a civil lawsuit. Lanez — lately serving a 10-year jail sentence for capturing Megan — made a “mockery of the proceedings” via harassing a feminine legal professional and significant definitions of modest phrases. The movement got here in a defamation case Megan filed towards gossip blogger Milagro Gramz, who she claims has waged a “coordinated campaign” with Lanez to “defame and delegitimize” the famous person rapper within the wake of the capturing and trial.
DANCE DANCE LITIGATION – A TikTok consumer named Kelley Heyer, who says she created ultimate summer time’s viral “Apple dance” to a Charli XCX tune, is suing Roblox over allegations that the corporate violated copyright legislation via promoting her dance strikes as an “emote.” Heyer claims that alternative video games paid her for a license, however that Roblox old her strikes with no offer. The lawsuit is the actual in an extended series of instances filed over viral dance strikes which can be old in video video games.