Another day, another lawsuit but this time looks like there’s a resolution for Ye since a federal judge has dismissed most copyright infringement claims brought against the rapper in a lawsuit tied to his 2021 album Donda, though part of the case is still headed toward trial.
Get this, the suit was filed in 2024 by Artist Revenue Advocates, a Delaware company backed by investors including Actio Capital. Its members, musicians Khalil Abdul Rahman, Sam Barsh, Dan Seeff, and Josh Mease, alleged that Ye’s tracks Hurricane and Moon infringed on their 2018 work titled MSD PT2.
In case you missed it, on February 26, Judge Michelle Williams Court of the US District Court for the Central District of California issued a split decision. The court granted summary judgment on most of the claims but allowed a narrower issue to proceed to an April 20 trial. A mediation session on February 20 did not resolve the dispute.
When it comes to court filings, they show Rahman sent a Dropbox folder containing MSD PT2 to a producer known as Nascent in March 2018. Months later, Nascent shared Ye’s Instagram post featuring 80 Degrees, an early demo of Hurricane that incorporated MSD PT2. The musicians later received songwriting credits on Hurricane, with Rahman also credited as a producer on Hurricane and Moon. They earned royalties and Grammy nominations connected to Donda.
What’s more, the court ruled ARA failed to secure a valid written transfer of the MSD PT2 composition copyright. Citing federal law, the judge noted a transfer “is not valid unless an instrument of conveyance, or a note or memorandum of transfer, is in writing and signed by the owner of the rights conveyed.”
Interestingly, the sound recording claims, expert Dr. Joe Bennett stated Hurricane “does not appear to contain a sample of the Sound Recording” of MSD PT2. However, Bennett also concluded the recording “was used in all versions of [80 Degrees] I have analyzed, and at Listening Party 1,” leaving that issue for trial.