This is The Legal Beat, a weekly music law newsletter from Billboard Progiving you a single cheat sheet of big new cases, major decisions and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: Wu-Tang Clan's only album is at the center of a lawsuit against Martin Shkreli. Justin Timberlake is facing a DUI charge. Young Thug's lawyer avoids jail and demands a judge turn himself in. Drake is being sued by the members only for trademark infringement. and many more.
THE BIG STORY: Once upon a time at court
When Wu-Tang Clan Auctioned Their Only album Once upon a time in Shaolin to Martin Shkreli in 2015, the agreement was famous for its strange limitations. A rumor about a clause allowing Bill Murray to steal the CD in a heist turned out to be fiction, but the deal actually included a requirement that the music could not be released to the general public until 2103.
Needless to say, a lot has changed since then. Shkreli soon became the hated “Pharma Bro” who raised the price of critical AIDS drugs. He then lost the album to federal prosecutors after he was convicted on securities fraud charges. Years later, the government then resold Shaolin in a group called PleasrDAO.
But those strange contractual restrictions came back to the fore twice last week — first when Pleasr sued Shkreli for threatening to leak the album online, and again when Pleasr himself said he would offer fans the chance to buy a cut of the mystery album for just $1.
Read our full story at lawsuit against Shkreliwhich Advertising sign will be watching closely as it progresses through the court. And then go read our deep dive into how a famously limited album “offered to the public” decades earlier than it was supposed to be.
Other top stories this week…
ARREST TIMBERLAKE – It was Justin Timberlake was arrested in the Hamptons on suspicion of driving under the influence after an officer pulled him over for running a stop sign and failing to stay in his lane. According to court records, Timberlake told police he “had a martini and followed my friends home,” but “his eyes were bloodshot and glassy” and the officer smelled a “strong odor of alcohol” before he failed a sobriety test sobriety. .
NO JAIL FOR THUG'S LAWYER – Young Thug's lawyer in his Atlanta gang trial it doesn't work in jail — at least not for now. Days after the judge Ural Glanville held Brian Steele scorning a strange courtroom episode that centered on allegations of a secret meeting between the judge, prosecutors and a key witness, the Georgia Supreme Court stayed Steel's sentence while it reviews the judge's ruling.
REFUSAL OF REJECTION – Meanwhile, Steel asked Glanville to recuse himself from the case, arguing that the secret meeting was an “unforgivable” mistake and that the judge had “lost his role as an impartial judge and become part of the prosecution team.” The judge he quickly refused the motion, saying Steel had provided only “these allegations and conclusions of law.”
MEMBERS ONLY by DRAKE – Drake's production company was hit with a lawsuit by apparel brand Members Only, which claims it was selling commercial tour products that infringed on the company's trademarks. The superstar's concert tees are a reference to a track of the same name on his 2023 album For all dogsbut the lawsuit says that's no excuse.
CARTEL CONCERT? Angel Del Villarthe chief executive of Los Angeles-based Del Records, asked a federal judge to dismiss criminal charges accusing him of doing business with a concert promoter linked to Mexican drug cartels. Del Villar's lawyers say the indictment, issued in 2022, is unfairly vague and the sign of a potential “clown punch” by prosecutors.
LIL UZI IS SUING FOR UNPAID BILLS – Lil Uzi Vert has sued a touring production company called M99 Studios that he claims the rapper owes more than $500,000 to unpaid bills for work done at last year's Rolling Loud, Roots Picnic and other events. Among other things, the lawsuit alleges the bills include meeting the rapper's “unrealistic production requests,” including finding and hiring more than a dozen adult dancers to perform on stage at a concert last year.
DIVORCE DRAMA – Billy Ray Cyrus testified an urgent move in Tennessee court amid his ongoing divorce from singer Firerose, accusing her of nearly $100,000 in unauthorized credit card charges and seeking a temporary restraining order to stop it.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/wu-tang-lawsuit-justin-timberlake-arrest-young-thug-trial-law-news/