{"id":1925,"date":"2024-07-23T20:28:18","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T20:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/michael-jackson-ruling-snoop-dogg-sampling-case-more-music-law-news\/"},"modified":"2024-07-23T20:28:18","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T20:28:18","slug":"michael-jackson-ruling-snoop-dogg-sampling-case-more-music-law-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/michael-jackson-ruling-snoop-dogg-sampling-case-more-music-law-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Jackson Ruling, Snoop Dogg Sampling Case & More Music Law News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tThis is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from <\/em>Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between. This week: Michael Jackson\u2019s estate scores a victory in litigation over a $600 million catalog sale; Snoop Dogg is hit with a copyright lawsuit that cites Tracy Chapman; Melissa Etheridge faces a legal battle from her partners in her failed cannabis business; and much more.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\t\tTHE BIG STORY: Jackson Estate Scores Legal Victory\u00a0<\/strong>\t<\/h2>\n

\n\tMichael Jackson\u2019s estate won a key ruling last week in a legal battle with the late singer\u2019s mother \u2014 and though it\u2019s only a \u201ctentative\u201d win, the stakes are enormous.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than 15 years after Jackson\u2019s death, his estate is still tied up in probate court, reportedly over unresolved tax issues. So when the King of Pop\u2019s executors wanted to sell part of his catalog to Sony Music for more than $600 million, it asked a California judge for approval to do so. Katherine Jackson objected, arguing that the sale \u201cviolated Michael\u2019s wishes\u201d and that the catalog would likely continue to gain value over time if retained, among other arguments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last week, a California appeals court tentatively rejected Katherine\u2019s objections \u2014 ruling that it would likely rule for the estate both procedurally (that she had failed to preserve arguments on appeal) and substantively (that the estate\u2019s executors had the power to make the Sony deal.)<\/p>\n

Go read our full story on the decision<\/a><\/strong> \u2014 and stay tuned for whether the court decides to finalize its ruling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

\n\tLEGAL LEGEND <\/strong>\u2013 While we\u2019re on the subject of the Jackson estate, go read Frank DiGiacomo\u2019s excellent profile<\/a><\/strong> of estate co-executor John Branca<\/strong>, a music attorney who at various points in his career has represented Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, Paul McCartney, the Elvis Presley estate and The Rolling Stones.\u00a0<\/p>\n

SNOOP LIABILITY <\/strong>\u2013 Snoop Dogg was sued for copyright infringement<\/a><\/strong> over allegations that the legendary rapper has refused to pay a veteran studio musician after using two of his backing tracks. The case offers a glimpse at industry practices surrounding the use of uncleared samples to privately \u201cexperiment\u201d in the recording studio \u2014 and cites an earlier battle between Tracy Chapman and Nicki Minaj over that same issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

WEED WAR <\/strong>\u2013 Melissa Etheridge is facing a legal battle<\/a> <\/strong>over her brief foray into the cannabis business, filed by two business partners in Northern California (Josephine and D\u2019Angelo Roberto) who say they \u201cinvested their life\u2019s work into the businesses\u201d but claim the singer \u201cabandoned them\u201d and left them in \u201cfinancial ruin.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

AN \u201cABHORRENT SCHEME\u201d<\/strong>\u2013 Attorneys for Priscilla Presley filed a lawsuit against four of her former business partners over allegations of elder abuse and fraud<\/a><\/strong>, accusing them of a \u201cmeticulously planned\u201d scheme to drain Elvis Presley\u2019s ex-wife of \u201cevery last penny she had\u201d \u2014 including nearly $1 million to date and 80% of her future income.<\/p>\n

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER JUDGE <\/strong>\u2013 Just two days after Judge Ural Glanville<\/strong> was ordered removed from Young Thug\u2019s sprawling Atlanta gang trial, his replacement on the trial bench (Judge Shukura L. Ingram<\/strong>) said that she would also recuse herself<\/a><\/strong>. Later the same day, Judge Paige Reese Whitaker <\/strong>assumed control of the massive racketeering case and now appears to be settling in to run it for the long haul.\u00a0<\/p>\n

KANYE SUED AGAIN <\/strong>\u2013 Ye (formerly Kanye West) was sued yet again<\/a><\/strong> over claims of illegal sampling, this time over allegations that he used an instrumental track called \u201cMSD PT2\u201d in two songs from the album Donda<\/em> even after he was explicitly denied permission. The case closely echoes a lawsuit filed against him by the estate of Donna Summer, which similarly claimed that he had used one of her songs even after being directly refused a license. That case settled last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

GOSSIP OR DEFAMATION? <\/strong>Soulja Boy launched a defamation lawsuit<\/a><\/strong> against social media personalities Tasha K and William The Baddest, claiming that they made false statements on a podcast about the rapper having a sexual encounter with a man \u2014 or, in the words of his lawyers, \u201credefining his character as a man who is not straight.\u201d If Tasha K\u2019s name sounds familiar, it should: She\u2019s the gossip host who Cardi B sued for defamation over claims about STDs, drug use and prostitution, eventually winning a $4 million judgment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NBA MUSIC LAWSUITS <\/strong>\u2013 More than a dozen NBA teams were sued for copyright infringement<\/a><\/strong> by Kobalt and other music companies over allegations that the basketball teams used songs in social media videos without permission. The cases came with city-specific flair: The New York Knicks were accused of using songs by \u201cNew York legends\u201d Jay-Z and Cardi B; the Philadelphia 76ers allegedly used music from Philly native Meek Mill; and the Atlanta Hawks took songs by \u201cAtlanta\u2019s own\u201d Migos and OutKast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MUSIC AI BATTLES<\/strong> \u2013 How are the copyright lawsuits against AI music firms Suno and Udio going to shake out? Billboard<\/em>\u2019s Robert Levine breaks down the fair use doctrine and how it might be applied<\/a><\/strong> to the new frontier of training artificial intelligence models, particularly in the wake of high-profile cases involving Google Books, the Android operating system and an Andy Warhol print of Prince.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ROYALTY ROW <\/strong>\u2013 SoundExchange sued a free streaming service<\/a><\/strong> called AccuRadio over allegations that the company has failed to pay royalties for music for years, claiming the streamer has \u201cdirectly harmed creators.\u201d The small streamer denied the allegations, saying it had reliably paid $12.5 million in royalties over the years but was struggling with high rates imposed on online radio.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BACKSTAGE MELEE <\/strong>\u2013 Chris Brown, Live Nation and several members of his entourage were hit with a lawsuit over an alleged assault<\/a><\/strong> that took place following Brown\u2019s concert last week in Fort Worth, Texas. The case claims that Brown and others \u201cbrutally and severely beat\u201d four men backstage in an unprovoked attack following the show.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CHIPPING AWAY <\/strong>\u2013 Attorneys for Live Nation asked a federal judge<\/a><\/strong> to dismiss part of the Justice Department\u2019s antitrust lawsuit \u2014 specifically, that the concert promoter uses illegal tying arrangements to operate its amphitheaters. The company argued that this practice, described as a \u201crefusal to deal,\u201d is common in the concert business and protected by Supreme Court precedent.\u00a0\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":1926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[294,2536,1684,153,1244,593,310,686,2676,2535],"class_list":["post-1925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-case","tag-dogg","tag-jackson","tag-law","tag-michael","tag-music","tag-news","tag-ruling","tag-sampling","tag-snoop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1925","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=1925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}