This is The Legal Beat, a weekly music law newsletter from Billboard Pro, bringing you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, landmark decisions and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: Madonna is being sued by angry fans over concerts that started later than scheduled. Michael Jackson's estate is facing a lawsuit after threatening to sue a Las Vegas tribute act. Ice Spice is being sued over claims that her “In Ha Mood” ripped off a previous track. and many more.
THE BIG STORY: Madonna fans Sue for late gigs
Finally: a treatment for people who just want to sleep.
Madonna was hit with a proposed class-action lawsuit last week because the Material Girl allegedly started three New York concerts later than scheduled, a delay her accusers say caused real legal harm to ticket buyers who, among other things, “should have to get up early to go to work' the next day.
Can you really sue for it? Madonna and Live Nation will likely argue that concert fans know that shows sometimes start a little later than scheduled. But ticket buyers Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden claim that by making fans wait an extra two hours beyond the listed start time, she not only breached her contract with them, but also committed a “misguided exercise of false advertising, negligent misrepresentation and unfair and deceptive commercial practices”.
For more, read our full story, including Fellows and Hadden's claims about Madonna's “long history of arriving and starting concerts late” and full access to the actual court documents filed against her.
Other top stories this week…
MJ TRIBUTE BATTLE – A long-running Michael Jackson tribute show in Las Vegas called “MJ Live” has filed a preliminary injunction against the singer's estate, asking a judge to rule that it can legally continue to perform the show. MJ Live organizers say the King of Pop's lawyers are unfairly threatening to sue even though the show has been running successfully for more than a decade. The estate called the case “beyond frivolous” and pledged to defend itself “vigorously”.
ICE SPICE COPYRIGHT CASE – The Bronx rapper has been hit with a copyright lawsuit alleging that her recent hit, “In Ha Mood,” was copied from an earlier track titled “In That Mood” by a Brooklyn artist named D.Chamberz. The lawsuit claims the two songs share so many similarities — including the beat, lyrics, hook, rhythmic structure, metric placement and narrative framework — that the overlap “cannot be purely coincidental.”
I COULDN'T IMAGINE THIS – The estate of Notorious BIG has settled with the widow of late hip-hop photographer Chee Mundo, resolving a years-long legal battle over merchandise that featured the late rapper's famous image standing in front of the World Trade Center. A judge had ruled earlier in the case that Modu had the right to reproduce and sell his image, but that slapping it on merchandise likely violated Biggie's rights.
MILES DAVIS TATTOO TRIAL – A trial is set to begin this week over whether celebrity tattoo artist Kat Von D violated copyright law when she inked a photographer's portrait of jazz legend Miles Davis on a friend's arm. He says he chose to “accurately reproduce” every aspect of his image. says it was a legal fair use.
RADIO OFFENSE – Irving AzoffGlobal Music Rights (GMR), a boutique performance rights organization with a star-studded roster, has filed a copyright lawsuit alleging a group of Vermont radio stations has been operating without a license for years. The charges come after GMR spent years in court battles against the Radio Music Licensing Commission, the group that negotiates music licensing deals for more than 10,000 radio stations.
TEKASHI 6IX9INE CHARGES – Authorities in the Dominican Republic arrested the embattled rapper on charges of domestic violence. This is the latest in a long line of legal issues for the American rapper, who was arrested in October in a separate attack in the Dominican Republic and faced federal gang charges in the United States before that.
JONAS-TURNER DIVORCE – Ex Game of Thrones Actress Sophie Turner has dropped her lawsuit against ex-husband Joe Jonas for custody of their two daughters after the former couple signed a joint parenting agreement approved by a British judge.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/madonna-fan-lawsuit-michael-jackson-ice-spice-biggie/