Salt-N-Pepa lawsuit towards Common Music Group over possession of grasp recordings dismissed
A US federal decide has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Grammy-winning rap duo Salt-N-Pepa towards Common Music Group, ruling that the artists by no means owned the copyrights to their sound recordings and subsequently can not reclaim them.
Decide Denise Cote of the US District Courtroom for the Southern District of New York issued an opinion and order on Thursday (January 8) granting UMG’s movement to dismiss each claims within the case, which you’ll learn in full right here.
Cheryl James and Sandra Denton, professionally referred to as Salt-N-Pepa, filed the lawsuit in Might 2025 in search of to regain their copyrights and bodily grasp recordings. You may learn the grievance in full right here.
The duo tried to train their termination rights beneath Part 203 of the Copyright Act, which permits artists to reclaim copyright possession 35 years after an preliminary switch.
Salt-N-Pepa served their Discover of Termination on UMG in March 2022, with the earliest termination date listed as Might 15, 2024.
Nevertheless, Decide Cote dominated that the 1986 agreements on which Salt-N-Pepa based mostly their declare “don’t point out that Plaintiffs ever owned the copyrights to the sound recordings or that they granted a switch of these rights to anybody else.”
In different phrases, as a result of Salt-N-Pepa by no means owned the copyrights within the first place, they can’t use Part 203 of the Copyright Act to reclaim them. The termination provision solely applies to artists who beforehand owned after which transferred their copyrights.
The decide’s determination centered on three agreements executed on Might 15, 1986. Salt-N-Pepa signed a recording settlement with Noise In The Attic Productions, Inc. (NITA), an organization owned by their producer Hurby Azor. That very same day, Azor entered right into a distribution settlement with Subsequent Plateau Information, and Salt-N-Pepa signed an inducement letter addressed to Subsequent Plateau Information.
The 1986 NITA Recording Settlement said that NITA “shall be the only and unique proprietor of any and all rights, title and/or curiosity in and to grasp recordings recorded hereunder, together with however not restricted to the worldwide sound copyrights therein.”
The 1986 settlement between Azor and Subsequent Plateau Information then transferred these rights, stating that Azor “hereby sells, transfers and assigns to Firm [Next Plateau Records]… all aforesaid proper, title and curiosity in and to such Sides together with with out limitation the sound recording copyright.”
Decide Cote wrote: “It was solely Azor and NITA that granted a switch of rights in 1986 to Subsequent Plateau Information.”
Salt-N-Pepa had argued that their inducement letter constituted a direct grant of their rights to Subsequent Plateau Information.
Nevertheless, Decide Cote rejected this interpretation, noting that within the letter, Salt-N-Pepa agreed to the representations within the distribution settlement, which included NITA’s illustration that it was “the only and unique proprietor” of the copyrights.
“The statutory textual content in § 203 is obvious: Plaintiffs can solely terminate copyright transfers that they executed,” Decide Cote wrote. “They can’t terminate a copyright grant executed by NITA.”
The decide additionally dismissed Salt-N-Pepa’s conversion declare, which alleged that UMG “deliberately and considerably interfered with Plaintiffs’ possession of their Grasp Tapes.”
Decide Cote dominated that Salt-N-Pepa didn’t show possession of the Grasp Tapes.
Thursday’s memorandum famous that UMG is the “successor-in-interest” to each Subsequent Plateau Information and London Information.
“Even with the court docket’s full rejection of their claims, we stay open and prepared to discover a decision to the matter and switch the web page so we will focus our efforts on working collectively to amplify Salt-N-Pepa’s legacy for generations to come back.”
UMG spokesperson
A Common Music Group spokesperson informed MBW: “Whereas we’re gratified that the court docket dismissed this baseless lawsuit, it ought to by no means have been introduced within the first place. Previous to this swimsuit—and with none authorized obligation to take action—we made a number of makes an attempt to resolve the matter amicably, enhance the artists’ compensation, and be sure that Salt-N-Pepa’s followers had entry to their music.
“Even with the court docket’s full rejection of their claims, we stay open and prepared to discover a decision to the matter and switch the web page so we will focus our efforts on working collectively to amplify Salt-N-Pepa’s legacy for generations to come back.”
Music Enterprise Worldwide
