(EXCLUSIVE) Action Bronson – Illegal Music Sampling Lawsuit Dismissed
theJasmineBRAND.com exclusively reports, Action Bronson is off the hook in the legal battle accusing him of illegally sampling multiple songs without ever paying a dime in royalties or obtaining a license, with the music companies who sued the rapper deciding to dismiss their entire lawsuit against him.
Here’s the latest: On August 17th, both parties filed court documents in the case explaining the music companies are dismissing all claims against Action Bronson without the chance of refiling any claims. The companies will pay their own attorney fees and other costs for filing the lawsuit.
Both the plaintiff and rapper’s lawyer signed off on the dismissal and it would appear a deal was reached outside of court between the two, which lead to the entire case be closed once and for all.
Here’s the backstory: Last year, music companies Cartagena Enterprises and Rico Records filed suit against rapper Action Bronson accusing him of copyright infringement for illegally using their music.
The music companies explained they are the exclusive owner of the copyrighted song, “Falsaria”, “20 Anos – 20 Exitos” and “Trampolin”.
The suit described Bronson as a hugely successful rapper who often includes lyrics about food in his music and even had an online cooking show he hosted. They say the rapper has publicly spoke about his love of cooking meals while listening to the band El Gran Combo De Puerto Rico – which is the band who recorded the copyrighted songs.
The companies say that Bronson recorded a song entitled “Mofongo” (a term for a fried plantain-based dish popular in Puerto Rican culture). The song features a substantial loop in which it contains the song “Falsaria” and even includes the chorus of the song. They say the song is featured prominently, substantially and unequivocally featured in the rappers song.
According to the plaintiffs, Bronson admitted to sampling their music back in 2011, but never paid royalties.
The companies said they issued a cease and desist to Bronson to stop selling the song featuring the illegal use of their music along with pay them for the sample he used. They say that the rapper never responded to their demands.
Bronson then released a song named, “Tapas” which features their copyrighted composition “Trampolin”, again without paying them or permission — yet he looped the copyrighted song over 20 times in his track.
The music companies demanded unspecified punitive and compensatory damages for Bronson illegally using their music and also an injunction against him from continuing to sell the tracks that feature their samples.
The rapper fired back accusing the companies of not having ownership over the tracks they claimed to own the rights. Further, he said they waited past the statute of limitations to file their lawsuit and therefore demanded the entire case be thrown out.
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