{"id":1805,"date":"2024-07-16T21:20:24","date_gmt":"2024-07-16T21:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/young-thug-judge-removed-nirvana-logo-beastie-boys-more-music-law\/"},"modified":"2024-07-16T21:20:24","modified_gmt":"2024-07-16T21:20:24","slug":"young-thug-judge-removed-nirvana-logo-beastie-boys-more-music-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/young-thug-judge-removed-nirvana-logo-beastie-boys-more-music-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Thug Judge Removed, Nirvana Logo, Beastie Boys & More Music Law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tThis 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. <\/i><\/p>\n

\n\tThis week: Young Thug\u2019s criminal trial is in chaos after the judge is forced to recuse himself; Nirvana ends a long-running lawsuit over its famed smiley face logo; the Beastie Boys launch a copyright battle against Chili\u2019s over \u201cSabotage\u201d; and much more.<\/i><\/p>\n

\n\t\tTHE BIG STORY: Young Thug Trial Judge Removed From Case<\/strong>\t<\/h2>\n

\n\tThe controversial, oft-delayed, never-normal criminal trial of Young Thug got another stunning twist this week, when the Atlanta judge overseeing it was ordered removed<\/strong> <\/a>from the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Judge Ural Glanville<\/strong>\u2019s recusal came a month after revelations of a secret \u201cex parte\u201d meeting between the judge, prosecutors and a key prosecution witness. Attorneys for Thug and other defendants had argued that Glanville aided prosecutors in coercing the witness to testify and that the meeting had violated their constitutional rights to a fair trial.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In her decision Monday (July 15), Judge Rachel Krause<\/strong> ruled that the secret meeting had not been \u201cinherently improper\u201d and that Glanville \u201ccan and would continue presiding fairly over this matter\u201d if left on the case. But she criticized him for his handling of the fallout from the meeting revelations, and ordered him to step aside for the sake of \u201cpreserving the public\u2019s confidence in the judicial system.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all well and good, but the public\u2019s confidence has already <\/em>repeatedly been tested by the case against Young Thug. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The sprawling racketeering case, which claims the rapper and dozens of others ran a violent Atlanta street gang called YSL, has meandered through the court system for more than two years \u2014 first through an unprecedented 10-month jury selection and then repeated delays and disruptions, including the stabbing of another defendant. Prosecutors have only presented part of their vast list of potential witnesses, and nobody expects the case to conclude early next year. All the while, Young Thug has sat in jail, repeatedly denied bond by Glanville.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What happens now is anybody\u2019s guess. With a new judge already set to take over (Judge Shakura L. Ingram <\/strong>was listed on the court docket by late Monday) defense attorneys will likely re-file their requests that Thug and the other defendants be released on bond. They will also likely renew their demands for a mistrial over Glanville\u2019s handling of the case \u2014 a motion that, if granted, would force prosecutors to start the entire massive case over from scratch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\tTHE OTHER BIG STORY: Nirvana Settles Logo Battle<\/strong>\t<\/h2>\n

\n\tAn epic, three-way legal battle over Nirvana\u2018s iconic smiley face logo is over.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For years, lawyers for the rock legends had been locked in sprawling litigation over the image, which emerged as an unofficial emblem for the band in its heyday and has only grown more valuable in recent years amid a boom in \u201890s\/\u201900s nostalgia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

First, Nirvana sued fashion designer Marc Jacobs<\/strong> in 2018 for using it without permission on grunge-themed apparel. Then, a designer at Geffen Records named Robert Fisher<\/strong> came out of the woodwork to argue that he \u2014 and not Kurt Cobain \u2014 had created the image and owned the rights to it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 30 years now, Nirvana has reaped enormous profits from Mr. Fisher\u2019s works,\u201d his lawyers wrote when he jumped into the case in 2020. \u201cNirvana was able to do so without any compensation to Mr. Fisher by falsely claiming authorship and ownership.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nirvana\u2019s attorneys staunchly maintained that Cobain designed the logo \u2014 or at the very least, that Fisher didn\u2019t own any rights to it. But those questions are moot now: Attorneys for all three sides filed a motion last week saying they had reached a settlement to end the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Go read our full story<\/a><\/strong> on the settlement, which recounts the back story of a case that probed into the creative origins of one of rock\u2019s best-known pieces of iconography.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\tOther top stories this week\u2026<\/strong>\t<\/h2>\n

\n\tCAN\u2019T STAND IT <\/strong>\u2013 The Beastie Boys sued the owner of Chili\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> over allegations that the restaurant chain used the rap trio\u2019s 1994 song \u201cSabotage\u201d in a social media advertisement without permission \u2014 an especially serious allegation from a trio that famously doesn\u2019t allow its music to appear in ads. The offending content? An apparent spoof of the iconic \u201cSabotage\u201d video featuring a restaurant heist and 1970s-era disguises.\u00a0<\/p>\n

LABELS SUE VERIZON<\/strong> \u2013 The major music companies filed a massive copyright case<\/a><\/strong> claiming the telecom giant effectively encouraged its internet subscribers to steal music on a \u201cstaggering\u201d scale. Seeking billions in damages, the case is the latest in a long series of lawsuits aimed at forcing ISPs to crack down on \u201crepeat infringers.\u201d And it came with a zinger: \u201cWhile Verizon is famous for its \u2018Can you hear me now?\u2019 advertising campaign, it has intentionally chosen not to listen to complaints from copyright owners.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

AI FIRMS LAWYER UP <\/strong>\u2013 AI music companies Suno and Udio hired Latham & Watkins<\/a><\/strong> to defend them against lawsuits filed by the three major labels that accuse the companies of using vast swathes of copyright music to \u201ctrain\u201d their models. Latham is a big deal in the BigLaw world, but especially in the burgeoning sub-niche of AI-training copyright defense litigation. The firm already reps Anthropic in such a case filed by music publishers, and OpenAI in a similar suit filed by The New York Times<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DEFAMATORY DENIAL? <\/strong>Film composer Danny Elfman was hit with a libel lawsuit<\/a><\/strong> over statements he made to the media last year defending himself from claims that he sexually abused Nomi Abadi, a former friend and fellow composer. In denying the allegations, Abadi says Elfman falsely tarred her as a \u201cliar, homewrecker, and an extortionist.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

EX-RHCP IN HOT WATER <\/strong>\u2013 Josh Klinghoffer, a former guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, was sued for wrongful death<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0over allegations that he struck and killed a pedestrian near Los Angeles earlier this year due to \u201cdistracted driving.\u201d Lawyers for the victim\u2019s family say they have video evidence showing Klinghoffer \u201cusing a device mere seconds before he crashed\u201d into Israel Sanchez.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CLASS ACTION IN THE REARVIEW <\/strong>\u2013 A group of Spotify customers\u00a0dropped their class action<\/a><\/strong> against the streaming giant over its recent decision to kill its short-lived \u201cCar Thing\u201d device, resolving a case that claimed Spotify left users holding \u201ca useless product.\u201d Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Spotify has more clearly indicated since the case was first filed that it will provide refunds to people who purchased the Car Thing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ABUSE CLAIMS AGAINST IRV GOTTI <\/strong>\u2013The co-founder of Murder Inc. Records was hit with a lawsuit<\/a><\/strong> accusing him of sexual assault and rape, filed by an unnamed woman who says he repeatedly \u201ccoerced\u201d her into sex by leveraging his \u201cpower and influence in the music world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2467,2468,423,153,2436,593,2434,2250,1095,1094],"class_list":["post-1805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-beastie","tag-boys","tag-judge","tag-law","tag-logo","tag-music","tag-nirvana","tag-removed","tag-thug","tag-young"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}