After Nigerian producer Dera's copyright lawsuit against international Latin sensation Bad Bunny was dropped, Bad Bunny's camp now wants emPawa Africa to pay the damages.
After a copyright infringement lawsuit that had been building since 2023 was
dismissed, Bad Bunny's legal team filed a motion in federal court for $456,312
in attorney expenses from emPawa Africa, the label founded by Nigerian singer
Mr. Eazi.
The case focused on "Enséñame a Bailar," a song from Bad Bunny's
catalog that Nigerian musician Dera (full name Ezeani Chidera Godfrey) claimed
contained an uncleared sample of "Empty My Pocket," a song he
recorded for Joeboy in 2019.
When the lawsuit was first filed in May of last year, Mr. Eazi's emPawa Africa was included as a co-plaintiff. This was because Mr. Eazi had publicly accused Bad Bunny's crew of copyright infringement and alleged that they had continuously blocked attempts to give Dera and Joeboy full credit.
Since the beginning of this year, the case has gradually come apart. Citing
"irreparable differences" on legal strategy, Dera's attorneys withdrew
from the lawsuit in January.
emPawa Africa was subsequently dismissed as a plaintiff for missing filing
deadlines. Dera himself then neglected to show up for a February 5th discovery
session and missed a March 6th deadline to proceed with the case.
On March 9th, Judge Otis Wright of the federal court dismissed the suit entirely, writing that the court found "dismissal is appropriate" and concluding that Dera had "abandoned this case." The judge added that allowing the action to continue "would prejudice defendants and would be against the public interest."
Throughout, Bad Bunny's team insisted that LakizoEntertainment, who had previously distributed the song, had properly cleared the sample in question.
Lakizo was never authorized to give that clearance, according to Dera's
lawsuit. This disagreement apparently led to a different legal conflict between
Lakizo and emPawa, which resulted in "Empty My Pocket" being
completely removed from streaming services.
The case appears to have ended much worse than it began, with a $456,000 fee
demand now on the table and the case dropped.
0 Comments