This is The Legal Beat, a weekly music law newsletter from Billboard Pro, bringing you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important decisions and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: A surprising early end to the criminal trial for the alleged thefts of Eagles frontman Don Henley. a copyright case filed by Bad Bunny against a fan who posted concert footage on YouTube. Linkin Park are responding to a lawsuit filed by a man who was briefly in the band. and many more.
THE BIG STORY: The Curious Case of Don Henley's Stolen Notes
Weeks after a blockbuster trial on charges that three men conspired to sell stolen pages of notes created by Eagles frontman Don Henley while writing “Hotel California,” Manhattan prosecutors dropped a bombshell last week: Perhaps the stolen notes were never stolen in the first place;
Of course, this has been the defendants' main refrain throughout. Glenn Horowitz, a rare book dealer, Craig Inciardi, a former curator at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and Edward Kosinski, a memorabilia auctioneer, argued from the start that the notes had simply been given to a reporter in the 1970s. a book about Eagles. At the start of the trial last month, one of their lawyers said prosecutors had “twisted the story” to charge three “innocent men” and “would apologize at the end of this case”.
In a surprise hearing Wednesday — midway through the trial, after Henley and longtime manager Irving Azoff had already testified — the prosecutor's office didn't quite apologize, but He made notified the judge that he would drop the charges against the three men. What triggered the sudden turnaround? A trove of new evidence that Henley had previously withheld under attorney-client privilege, some of which directly addressed the key question of whether the notes had been stolen.
The judge was none too pleased, saying that Henley and Azoff had chosen to “suppress and conceal information which they believed would be prejudicial to their position that the verse sheets had been stolen”. He also accused prosecutors of being “manipulated” into bringing the charges, although he praised them for “eating a slice of humble pie” once new evidence came to light.
Following the surprising collapse of the case and the judge's remarks, Henley's lawyer responded on his behalf, saying the rock star was “victimized by this unfair result” and “will pursue all of his rights in the civil courts.” A spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to comment.
For all the details, read our full story — with the history of the case, all the key quotes from the judge and what defense attorneys had to say about the sudden dismissal.
Other top stories this week…
TWITTER MUSIC CASE LIVES – A federal judge ruled that music publishers could proceed with a copyright lawsuit filed against X Corp. for allegations of widespread copyright infringement on the social networking platform formerly known as Twitter. The judge threw out large parts of the case, but allowed some of the suit's key claims — that X essentially enabled its users' illegal behavior by refusing to crack them — to go forward.
SONY RESPONDS TO PREVENTION COMPLAINT – Sony Music has hit back at a lawsuit filed by a former assistant to Columbia Records CEO Ron Perry over allegations that the company discriminated against white job applicants, saying the claims were “contradictory and false” and were simply designed to “harass her former employer.” The new case came amid increased scrutiny of race-conscious corporate diversity practices following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that banned so-called affirmative action in college admissions.
LIZZO ON ICE CASE FOR NOW – A bombshell sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Lizzo by three of her former backup dancers is set to be put on hold for the foreseeable future after a Los Angeles judge halted all proceedings while the star appeals a recent ruling. Lizzo is challenging a decision earlier this year that refused to dismiss the case under California's anti-SLAPP law.
BAD BUNNY'S CONCERT CASE – The superstar Puerto Rican rapper has filed a lawsuit against a viewer who posted footage of a recent show on YouTube, claiming he was effectively forced to sue after the alleged bootlegger asked YouTube to keep the clips online. The case highlights the takedown process under the Copyright Act in the Digital Age, which allows an accused infringer to republish their content if they wish – but also exposes them to a lawsuit like the one Bad Bunny filed this week .
IS YOUTUBE “BUILDING THE UNION”? – There is a dispute over the sudden firing earlier this month of more than thirty contract workers at YouTube Music, who voted last year to unionize. Executives, who oversee content for the music streaming service's 80 million subscribers, called the move “union busting” and illegal retaliation against their right to collective bargaining. However, Google and subcontractor Cognizant say that “no one was fired” and that the YouTube contract had simply “expired on its natural expiration date.”
HAGAR CANTEEN Clash – Sammy Hagar won a preliminary injunction barring an allegedly unauthorized Hollywood location of his Cabo Wabo Cantina from continuing to use the chain's name and brand while their dispute plays out in court. The judge prohibited the allegedly fraudulent franchisee from “representing to the public, in any manner whatsoever, that the restaurant is an authorized Cabo Wabo Cantina restaurant.”
TIME IS A PRECIOUS THING – Linkin Park asked a federal judge to end a lawsuit accusing the band of refusing to pay royalties to a former bassist who played briefly with the band in the late 1990s, saying the lawsuit is “riddled with flaws” . Chief among them? That such claims have been denied for “over two decades” and that the statute of limitations has therefore “long since passed.”
