{"id":7995,"date":"2025-10-02T08:35:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T08:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/diddy-sentencing-taylor-swift-lawsuit-dismissal-more-music-law-news\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T07:57:50","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T07:57:50","slug":"diddy-sentencing-taylor-swift-lawsuit-dismissal-more-music-law-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/diddy-sentencing-taylor-swift-lawsuit-dismissal-more-music-law-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Diddy Sentencing, Taylor Swift Lawsuit Dismissal & More Music Law News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Diddy Sentencing, Taylor Swift Lawsuit Dismissal & More Music Law News- THE BIG STORY: Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs essentially won his criminal case, right? After all, the jury acquitted him on the central racketeering and sex-trafficking charges that could have sent him to prison for life. The feds overreached and the jury slapped them down, the narrative goes \u2014 let\u2019s get those White Parties going again.<\/p>\n

But the star was<\/em> convicted, albeit on lesser charges of interstate prostitution. And these weren\u2019t misdemeanors: Prosecutors want at least 11 years in prison, and the probation office says he deserves seven years. Combs\u2019 lawyers, on the other hand, want just 14 months \u2014 a sentence that would send him home almost immediately on time served.<\/p>\n

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When Combs is sentenced by a federal judge on Friday (Oct. 3), how much time will he actually get? Legal experts told me that it will largely depend on one tricky question: How much the judge separates the \u201cacquitted conduct\u201d that was rejected by the jury from the actions on which Combs was actually convicted.<\/p>\n

That might seem like common sense, but it\u2019s actually a controversial issue and the key dispute between Combs and prosecutors ahead of sentencing. Experts say it\u2019s also a serious challenge for a federal judge: \u201cIt will be hard for the judge to unhear everything he has already heard about Combs,\u201d one former longtime Manhattan federal prosecutor told me.<\/p>\n

For more, go read my full story here. And stay tuned at Billboard<\/em> \u2014 we\u2019ll keep you updated when the sentence is issued.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re reading 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. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Tuesday, go subscribe here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Other top stories this week\u2026<\/h3>\n

NO NEW TRIAL<\/strong> \u2013 Separately in the Diddy case, Judge Arun Subramanian denied a motion seeking to overturn his prostitution convictions, clearing the way for both sentencing and appeals. The ruling rejected Combs\u2019 various arguments, including his eyebrow-raising claim that the \u201cfreak-off\u201d sex parties at the heart of the case were just porn movie shoots protected by the First Amendment. \u201cIllegal activity can\u2019t be laundered into constitutionally protected activity just by the desire to watch it,\u201d the judge wrote.<\/p>\n

GET A GOOD LAWYER <\/strong>\u2013 A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit claiming Taylor Swift stole lyrics for 15 of her songs from a self-published Florida poet, ruling that accuser Kimberly Marasco was trying to claim ownership over \u201ccommon words\u201d and basic ideas: \u201cPlaintiff\u2019s poems amount at most to ideas, metaphors, contexts, and themes \u2014 none of which is a proper subject of copyright protection,\u201d the judge wrote.<\/p>\n

PROTECT YA SECRETS<\/strong> \u2013 A federal judge said that Martin Shkreli must face a lawsuit over Once Upon a Time in Shaolin<\/em>, a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album that he once owned. The judge refused to dismiss the case because she said the ultra-rare album might be considered a \u201ctrade secret\u201d \u2014 and that Shkreli potentially broke the law by retaining copies after he forfeited it to prosecutors. But she acknowledged that such a ruling was \u201cuncharted territory\u201d for trade secrets law.<\/p>\n

NIRVANA COVER CASE<\/strong> \u2013 The iconic grunge band won a court ruling dismissing a long-running lawsuit filed by Spencer Elden, the man who appeared as a nude baby on the iconic cover of Nirvana\u2019s 1991 album Nevermind<\/em>. Elden claimed the image amounted to child pornography, but the judge ruled it was not the kind of sexualized photo that would break the law: \u201cThis image \u2026 is most analogous to a family photo of a nude child bathing.\u201d<\/p>\n

KIM K SUES RAY J<\/strong> \u2013 Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner filed a defamation lawsuit against Ray J over allegations that he falsely claimed during a podcast that federal authorities are investigating the mother and daughter pair for criminal racketeering. The case, filed by lawyer Alex Spiro<\/strong>, said the singer had waged a \u201cmalicious campaign of harassment\u201d against the Kardashians because he was intent on \u201creviving his own fading notoriety.\u201d Ouch.<\/p>\n

METRO BOOMIN VERDICT<\/strong> \u2013 The superstar producer won a jury verdict clearing him of wrongdoing in a civil lawsuit filed by Vanessa LeMaistre, who claimed that he sexually assaulted and impregnated her in 2016. It took only a short deliberation for the jury to reject those accusations, which Metro\u2019s lawyers repeatedly told them had been conjured up while LeMaistre was high on the psychoactive drug ayahuasca during a trip to Peru.<\/p>\n

\u201cBOONDOGGLE\u201d BATTLE \u2013<\/strong> Thomas St. John<\/strong>, a former longtime business manager to Calvin Harris, fired back against the DJ\u2019s recent allegations of fraud, calling the accusations \u201ccategorically false.\u201d In a response statement, St. John said he did not steal money from anybody and that Harris had willingly agreed to invest in the Los Angeles real estate plan at the center of the dispute \u2014 a project Harris says was a \u201ccomplete boondoggle.\u201d<\/p>\n

MJ ABUSE CASES<\/strong> \u2013 Michael Jackson\u2019s estate revealed in court filings that Wade Robson and James Safechuck \u2014 two men who have long accused the late pop star of sexually assaulting them as children \u2014 are seeking a whopping $400 million in their court cases. The revelation came amid an intra-estate dispute with Jackson\u2019s daughter, Paris Jackson, who claims the estate executors have paid too much in legal bills to certain law firms.<\/p>\n

NOT AGAIN<\/strong> \u2013 Tekashi 6ix9ine pled guilty yet again to breaching the plea deal he secured by testifying against his former Brooklyn gangmates, marking his third violation of supervised release in less than a year. At a court hearing, Tekashi admitted that he attacked a man in a Florida mall last month after the man taunted him for flipping on his crew.<\/p>\n

RAP ON TRIAL <\/strong>\u2013 A New York appeals court ruled that Brooklyn prosecutors shouldn\u2019t have used a rap song as evidence in a murder trial, saying the lyrics had \u201cinherent ambiguity\u201d and that the defendant was \u201cdeprived of a fair trial.\u201d The decision, which centered on a prosecution expert witness who merely \u201cguessed\u201d when explaining what the lyrics meant to jurors, came amid a nationwide debate about rap in criminal cases.<\/p>\n

GRACELAND SCAMMER <\/strong>\u2013 Lisa Jeanine Findley, the woman who tried to sell off Elvis Presley\u2019s Graceland mansion for millions of dollars in a bizarre scheme, was sentenced last week to more than four years in prison. Last year, Findley used a fake company and forged documents to try to conduct a foreclosure sale of the legendary Memphis home \u2013 an outlandish scam that befuddled media outlets and officials alike.<\/p>\n

CLUB CLASH <\/strong>\u2013 A trio of Miami club operators who run the city\u2019s famed Club Space venue fired back at a lawsuit brought by dance music giant Insomniac Events by filing a countersuit accusing Insomniac and its CEO Pasquale Rotella<\/strong> of \u201cpredatory tactics and greed.\u201d<\/p>\n

AI BATTLE IN GERMANY <\/strong>\u2013 One of the first major AI music cases in the European Union went before a Munich court this week. The case \u2014 pitting German music royalties group GEMA against OpenAI \u2014 raises the same question at play in the billion-dollar U.S. lawsuits: Do AI companies need to pay for the vast numbers of copyrighted works they use to train their machines? Billboard<\/em>\u2019s Rob Levine has a breakdown of the case and its implications.<\/p>\n

ROYALTY ROW<\/strong> \u2013 T.I. was hit with a new lawsuit from veteran hip hop producer Sir Jinx over accusations that the rapper has failed to pay proper royalties for his 2016 Dr. Dre collaboration \u201cDope.\u201d\u00a0Jinx \u2014 Dre\u2019s cousin who rose to fame with Ice Cube in the 1980s \u2014 has become a prolific litigant in recent years, filing lawsuits seeking more compensation for his work with Cube, Yo-Yo and others.<\/p>\n

BITTER BAND BREAKUP <\/strong>\u2013 The metalcore band Hatebreed and its frontman Jamey Jasta fired back at a lawsuit filed by bassist Chris Beattie over his ouster \u2014 calling it a \u201cgarden variety band break-up case\u201d filed by a \u201cdisgruntled\u201d former member who is improperly claiming a legal right \u201cto remain a permanent member\u201d of the band.<\/p>\n


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