The legal battle between Reggae/Dancehall production company Steely & Clevie and almost all major Reggaetón artists is poised to roll into a California courtroom this month.
Steely & Clevie Productions has firmly responded to five motions seeking to dismiss its massive copyright infringement lawsuit against nearly all of Reggaetón’s biggest stars, including Bad Bunny, Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, Pitbull, Drake, and Justin Bieber.
One hundred and seven of the almost 170 defendants in Steely & Clevie Productions' copyright lawsuit filed three motions on Thursday (June 15) to dismiss the case.
Canadian rapper Drake and Puerto Rican Reggaeton star Bad Bunny are among the dozens of new artists, producers, and record labels recently added to the copyright infringement lawsuit brought by the Jamaican company Steely & Clevie Productions, according to court records obtained by DancehallMag.
Two US-based lawyers have offered their views on Steely & Clevie Productions’ copyright lawsuit against Panamanian artist and producer El Chombo, Puerto Rican artists Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, and a slew of other Reggaeton artists, producers, and record companies.
Steely & Clevie Productions Ltd says that, despite its best efforts, it has been unable to effect service of its copyright infringement complaint on some of the Defendants, all of whom, it is alleged, infringed on the Dancehall production company’s Fish Market riddim, better known as Dem Bow.
Steely & Clevie Productions’ copyright lawsuit against Luis Fonsi, of Despacito fame, appears to have mushroomed into an all-out legal assault on Reggaetón after multiple lawsuits against some of the genre’s biggest hitmakers were consolidated into a single action.
Reggaeton singer Luis Fonsi, on Tuesday, celebrated eight billion views on his hit song Despacito, the most-viewed music video on YouTube, which is currently the subject of a copyright infringement lawsuit brought against him by Jamaican Reggae/Dancehall label Steely & Clevie Productions.
On Friday, March 18, the attorneys for Despacito singer Luis Fonsi responded to Dancehall label Steely & Clevie’s Fish Market/Dem Bow copyright infringement lawsuit, pleading that they “have not engaged in any type of infringement,” that “there is no actionable similarity between the works at issue,” and by and large that they “deny knowledge or information sufficient to respond” to the majority of the allegations.