Jamaican producer Cleveland “Clevie” Browne and the Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson’s estate have been dealt a blow in a copyright case that opposed them to more than 150 different artists. The case centered around a sound called ‘dembow’, characteristic of reggaeton.
In July, lawyers for the artists asked the judge to reconsider a ruling a jury must determine whether roughly 1,800 reggaeton songs by more than 100 artists infringed the copyright to Cleveland “Clevie” Browne and the heirs of Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson’s 1989 song “Fish Market,” which the plaintiffs claim originated reggaeton’s defining dembow rhythm. Bad Bunny’s lawyers, later joined by attorneys for the other artists, asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that the allegedly protectable “Fish Market Elements” are merely a “pastiche” assembled from different parts of multiple songs.
The judge has now ruled that the plaintiffs failed to establish copyright ownership of the beat, Billboard reports.
The lawsuit, filed in 2021, targets nearly 2,000 songs and names artists including Karol G, Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, Drake and Luis Fonsi. Bad Bunny’s legal team argued that the plaintiffs were attempting to claim a “Frankenstein” copyright built from elements of three separate songs. Birotte agreed, finding that the allegedly protected musical arrangement does not appear in any single copyrighted work.
Browne and Johson’s claims cast a very wide net, and though this particular instance has been resolved, there are other active lawsuits against artists for more specific sampling of their work without clearance.
