A federal judge has denied Bad Bunny’s request to recover $465,612 in legal fees after he successfully fought a copyright lawsuit involving a sample used on his 2022 album, Un Verano Sin Ti.
In a ruling issued Thursday, August 20th, U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II found that Empawa Africa had brought an “objectively reasonable” case and rejected Bad Bunny’s argument that the company pursued the lawsuit with an improper motive, as Billboard reports.
The dispute centered on “Enséñame a Bailar,” which samples “Empty My Pocket,” a 2019 song by Nigerian artist Dera. Bad Bunny’s attorneys maintained that the sample had been properly licensed through production company Lakizo Entertainment.
The case was dismissed earlier this year after Empawa and Dera failed to meet court deadlines. Bad Bunny’s attorneys subsequently sought reimbursement for legal costs, calling the lawsuit “meritless from the beginning” and accusing Empawa of seeking an “undeserved, multimillion-dollar settlement.”
Wright disagreed, noting that Bad Bunny had used the copyrighted material and that his attorneys had not provided Empawa with documentation proving they had permission to sample it.
