Bad Bunny denied legal fees in Empawa Africa copyright dispute

A United States federal court has denied a motion by Bad Bunny and several co-defendants to recover nearly $500,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs from Empawa Africa Music Services Limited. The ruling, issued by Judge Otis D. Wright II of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, concluded a copyright dispute regarding the sampling of the song ‘Empty My Pocket’ in Bad Bunny’s track ‘Enséñame a Bailar.’

The dispute originated from allegations that the Puerto Rican artist and his label, Rimas Entertainment, used material from the 2019 Afrobeats track without proper authorization. While Bad Bunny’s legal team argued they had cleared the sample through Lakizo Entertainment, Empawa and producer Ezeani Chidera Godfrey (known as Dera) maintained that Empawa held the exclusive copyrights and that Lakizo lacked the authority to grant such licenses.

Judge Wright rejected the defendants' arguments that the lawsuit was frivolous or pursued in bad faith, stating that Empawa’s claims were ‘objectively reasonable.’ The court noted that awarding fees would send the wrong message to parties attempting to protect their intellectual property.