Kanye West was ordered to pay over $52,000 in authorized charges after a decide dominated his group stalled discovery in a copyright lawsuit over two “Donda” tracks.
Kanye West has simply taken a authorized hit in Los Angeles, the place a federal decide ordered him and his firms to pay $52,015 in legal professional charges tied to a copyright dispute over his album, Donda.
The ruling upheld an earlier choice requiring West to pay authorized prices after his group refused to cooperate in the course of the discovery section of a lawsuit filed by Artist Income Advocates, LLC.
The group claims that West unlawfully used copyrighted materials created by DJ Khalil and three different musicians on two tracks, “Moon” and “Hurricane”—from his 2021 album, Donda— with out authorization.
Kanye West credited them as songwriters and producers, however he by no means obtained their clearance to make use of the music, which they are saying generated at the least $15 million in income.
West’s and his authorized group objected to all 65 of their makes an attempt to acquire key paperwork and produced no information in any respect. That led them to ask the courtroom to intervene.
A decide agreed with DJ Khalil and his crew, ordering Kanye West’s firms at hand over the requested supplies and pay the authorized charges incurred in forcing that consequence.
After reviewing billing information, the Justice of the Peace set the quantity at simply over $52,000.
West’s legal professionals pushed again, calling the price “extreme” and arguing that the songwriters used too many senior attorneys at excessive hourly charges. They requested that the courtroom scale back the award to $15,000.
The decide wasn’t persuaded and stated the variety of objections from West’s group justified the time spent by the plaintiff’s legal professionals.
The price order is a part of a broader lawsuit that continues to be energetic in federal courtroom. The case, filed in 2023, might decide whether or not West and his firms are responsible for copyright infringement associated to the 2 tracks.
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