Pick a Day

Music History Events: Legal Issues

September 13, 2013 After winning a landmark lawsuit, The Village People lead singer Victor Willis regains the copyright to 33 songs he co-wrote for the band. Willis is the first songwriter to go public with his case, which deals with a 1978 law that reverts copyrights to songs back to their original owners 35 years after. Like many songwriters, Willis had signed away the rights to his songs.

June 2, 2013 Taylor Swift poses for photos with KYGO radio DJ David Mueller before her concert in Denver. She later accuses him of putting his hand up her dress, and Mueller is fired. In 2015, he sues her, but Swift countersues and wins a sexual assault case against him. "He grabbed my bare ass," she says in her testimony.

May 6, 2013 Lauryn Hill is sentenced to three years in prison for tax evasion. She begins serving the sentence in July.

March 5, 2013 In a Czech court, Lamb of God lead singer Randy Blythe is acquitted of manslaughter. He was charged with pushing a fan to his death at a 2013 LoG concert in Prague; in 2012 he was arrested when the band returned to the country for another show.

December 20, 2012 Rapper Fat Joe pleads guilty in federal court in New Jersey to tax evasion charges. He is charged with failing to pay taxes on over $1 million of income in both 2007 and 2008 and is expected to serve about two years.

December 18, 2012 Songwriter Earl Shuman files a copyright infringement lawsuit against singer Alicia Keys, claiming her Top 20 single "Girl On Fire" sounds too much like Shuman's 1970 song "Lonely Boy," which ended up being recorded by Eddie Holman as "Hey There Lonely Girl." The suit is kind of vague on the details, but apparently it comes down to a few notes; Keys and Shuman later settle.

December 1, 2012 Antonio de la Rua, former boyfriend (and former business manager) of Latin pop star Shakira, files a lawsuit for $100 million against her. The suit alleges that Shakira wouldn't have had the success she'd had without his help, and Rua seeks compensation for his management work.

October 24, 2012 R&B singer Bobby Brown is arrested in Los Angeles, California, for a DUI ticket - after a similar incident in March of the same year in which he'd pleaded no contest and agreed to attend rehab. This time he is released on bail.

September 28, 2012 A judge orders an audit of R&B singer Chris Brown's community-service records. The community service is part of a sentence handed down on his domestic violence charge in his 2009 incident with then-girlfriend Rihanna. While Brown claims to be done with his service, the court thinks some fishy finagling of the numbers happened, showing discrepancies in Brown's claim of having served at Tappahannock Children's Center, cleaning stables at the Richmond Police Department, and inventorying smoke detectors and fire extinguishers.

September 25, 2012 Two con artists, Alpha Lorenzo Walker and Tamara Diaz, are sentenced to 292 days in jail and 3 years' probation after an attempt to blackmail Stevie Wonder. The pair had somehow obtained or created a video portraying Wonder in a negative light and were demanding $5 million under threat of releasing it to the public. The pair were caught in a sting operation.

September 25, 2012 The Insane Clown Posse sues the FBI, claiming the organization has refused to turn over evidence as to why ICP fans (Juggalos) are listed as a "hybrid gang" in the 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment. The suit is eventually dismissed.

August 24, 2012 Country singer Randy Travis continues his string of calamitous arrests, this time for a brawl at a church in Texas where he was purportedly fighting over a woman. The incident leads to him being cited for assault, giving him another citation to add to his collection. It's still a cheaper hobby than baseball cards.

August 14, 2012 John Geils, former guitarist for the semi-retired J. Geils Band, files suit against the other band members to stop them from touring under his name... since he's left the band. The irony stings like bleach in a wound! Despite this move, the remaining members of the band say they'll tour anyway.

July 25, 2012 MGA Entertainment, the toy corporation behind the "Bratz" line of dolls, files a lawsuit against Lady Gaga, alleging that she and her managers delayed approval on marketing a Lady Gaga doll. MGA calls it "breach of contract" and is asking for $10 million - this, only eight months after the deal was struck.

July 21, 2012 Singer-songwriter Tulisa Contostavlos is cleared of conspiring to supply Class A drugs after the notorious "Fake Sheikh" Mazher Mahmood sets up one entrapment operation too many.

June 25, 2012 James Rosemond aka "Jimmy Henchman" is indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, having allegedly ordered a hit on a rival who allegedly assaulted his son. If that doesn't seem like music news, consider that Rosemond was a hip-hop mogul and CEO of Czar Entertainment, manager of such artists as Too Short and Salt-N-Pepa (for their song "Shoop"). Rosemond has also been implicated in the deadly East-West coast "rap war" feud that claimed the lives of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls.

January 12, 2012 Lou Reed and John Cale of The Velvet Underground sue the Andy Warhol Foundation for licensing the iconic banana logo Warhol created for the band to third parties.

January 6, 2012 Wiz Khalifa is sued for $2.3 million over his hit song "Black and Yellow." Max Warren, who raps under the name "Maxamillion," claims Khalifa, his producers, and his label stole the song from him. In the lawsuit, Warren states that the idea for the song was taken from his copyrighted 2007 song "Pink and Yellow." Khalifa claims he's never heard of Warren or his music.

December 29, 2011 The Nigerian government files a lawsuit against Rick Ross for cancelling a concert in Cross River State, Nigeria, the night before. Ross was scheduled to perform at the annual Calabar carnival celebration but pulled out at the last minute without citing a reason. The Cross River State government sued the rapper for breach of contract and to recover his performance fee.

December 2, 2011 Police in Arkansas find the country singer Mindy McCready hiding in a closet two days after she kidnapped her 5-year-old son from her mother, who was living with the child in Florida. McCready, who did not have custody of her son, was seven months pregnant with twins at the time.

November 8, 2011 The singer Charlotte Church testifies to the Leveson Inquiry, which is investigating claims that reporters from News of the World hacked the phones of various celebrities.

October 31, 2011 17-year-old Justin Bieber is hit with a paternity suit from 20-year-old Mariah Yeater, who claims the singer knocked her up in a Staples Center bathroom. The suit is later dropped, but Bieber takes a paternity test anyway to prove he is not the father.

October 18, 2011 A Birmingham County Court declares four of the original members of UB40 bankrupt. Even after selling 70+ million records over their 33-year career, saxophone player Brian Travers, drummer Jimmy Brown, trumpeter Terence "Astro" Wilson and percussionist Norman Hassan fail to fight off bankruptcy proceedings over debts related to the band's now defunct record label DEP International.

September 2, 2011 T.I. is arrested just days after serving an 11-month sentence at the US Penitentiary in Arkansas. Under his probation agreement, the rapper was allowed to provide his own transportation from Arkansas to a halfway house in Atlanta. However, prison officials objected to his vehicle of choice - a luxury SUV motor coach - and took him back into custody for violating his parole.

August 22, 2011 Lindsay Lohan sues Pitbull, along with Ne-Yo and DJ Afrojack, for referencing her in the song "Give Me Everything (Tonight)" ("Hustlers move aside, so I'm tiptoeing, keep flowin', I got it locked up like Lindsay Lohan"). The judge rules in Pitbull's favor, citing the First Amendment's protection of freedom of speech and creative expression.

August 7, 2011 Big Boi of OutKast is arrested in Miami on drug charges when police find ecstasy and Viagra in baggage with his name on it.

August 4, 2011 Rapper Big Sean is arrested in Lewiston, New York, after being accused of sexually assaulting a woman during a Wiz Khalifa concert, where he was performing. He is eventually fined $750 for second degree unlawful imprisonment.

May 22, 2011 Joseph Brooks, who wrote the title hit to the 1977 film You Light Up My Life, commits suicide at age 73 while awaiting a rape trial. He was accused of committing a series of rapes by luring aspiring actresses to his apartment under the guise of conducting movie auditions.

March 28, 2011 Rapper Rick Ross is arrested in Shreveport, Louisiana, after being caught with one gram of marijuana. Ross was smoking the drug at the Hilton Hotel when guests reported smelling a foul odor coming from his room. Ross is booked and released the same night.

November 9, 2010 Rapper Wiz Khalifa is arrested in Greenville, North Carolina, on drug charges after authorities smell marijuana coming from his tour bus. Police find 60 grams of pot after searching the vehicle. Khalifa is booked and released on a $300,000 bond. The rapper's lawyers are able to reduce the charge to personal possession and Khalifa avoids jail time.