{"id":10970,"date":"2026-06-16T12:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T12:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/ricky-martin-lawsuit-over-vida-restarted-again-by-appeals-court\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T12:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T12:00:13","slug":"ricky-martin-lawsuit-over-vida-restarted-again-by-appeals-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/ricky-martin-lawsuit-over-vida-restarted-again-by-appeals-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Ricky Martin Lawsuit Over ‘Vida’ Restarted Again by Appeals Court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tA \u201cperpetual\u201d lawsuit against Ricky Martin over a song released for the 2014<\/em> FIFA World Cup is headed for yet another round in court, nearly 12 years after it was first filed.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a decision issued Friday (June 12), a federal appeals court overturned a lower court\u2019s ruling that had dismissed the copyright infringement accusations from Luis Adri\u00e1n Cort\u00e9s-Ramos, who has long claimed that Martin stole his song and turned it into the star\u2019s 2014 hit \u201cVida.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tThe ruling sets the stage for even more litigation in a case that has already been pending for well more than a decade \u2014 an extraordinarily long time even by the standards of slow-moving federal courts.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cToday, we consider another chapter in the perpetual quest of [Cort\u00e9s] for good ol\u2019 fashioned copyright justice,\u201d writes a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. \u201cThis isn\u2019t the first time Cort\u00e9s has ended up before us in his David-versus-Goliath copyright battle \u2014 in fact, it\u2019s his fifth appeal in twelve years across three cases.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCort\u00e9s first sued way back in July 2014 over Martin\u2019s \u201cVida,\u201d a track off of One Love, One Rhythm \u2013 The 2014 FIFA World Cup Official Album<\/em>, which reached No. 5 on Billboard<\/em>\u2019s Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart amid that year\u2019s global soccer tournament.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe song had an unusual backstory: FIFA and Sony Music held a contest where songwriters could submit entries, which would then be chosen and performed by Martin. After Cort\u00e9s submitted his song, he was not selected as the winner, but he claims that Martin\u2019s eventual track was so similar to his own that it infringed copyrights.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Shakira<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThat kind of dispute can often take a few years to resolve, as the two sides exchange evidence and make arguments, and then a judge or jury figures out how to decide the case. Appeals, delays and disruptions can drag cases out further. But the battle over \u201cVida\u201d has been something else altogether.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe case was first dismissed in 2015 on the grounds that Cort\u00e9s had signed a waiver when he entered the contest, agreeing to handle any disputes via private arbitration. That ruling was subject to a lengthy appeal, where it was eventually upheld by the First Circuit in 2016. But Cort\u00e9s then filed another case against Martin personally and, after another long appeal, he eventually won a ruling in 2020 allowing it to move ahead.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter several more trips back and forth to the appeals court and yet another new version of the lawsuit, a judge finally ruled in August 2024 that Martin was entitled to summary judgment \u2014 a case-ending decision without the need for a jury trial.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut in a 41-page opinion on Friday, the First Circuit once again rebooted the case. Writing for a panel of three judges, Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson said the trial court had issued the ruling against Cort\u00e9s prematurely because it had not given him a fair shot at \u201cdiscovery\u201d \u2014 the process in which the two sides exchange evidence.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt took those sweeping actions without giving Cort\u00e9s the benefit of a chance to pursue discovery, despite his repeated pleas for such an opportunity,\u201d the judge wrote. \u201cCort\u00e9s appeals on that ground \u2026 and we agree with him on the discovery issue, so we vacate and remand for more litigation, yet again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe ruling will send the case back to the lower court, where Cort\u00e9s will now get a \u201cfull and fair opportunity\u201d to conduct discovery, a lengthy and expensive process in any lawsuit. After that, the judge will again consider granting Martin a final judgment. But of course, either side can appeal that ruling whenever it happens, extending the case further.<\/p>\n

\n\tAttorneys for both Martin and Cort\u00e9s did not immediately return requests for comment.<\/p>\n


\"Billboard
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