{"id":502974,"date":"2026-03-25T19:07:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T23:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/from-defendant-to-plaintiff-bad-bunny-claims-thousands-of-dollars-after-winning-dispute-over-ensename-a-bailar\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:07:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T23:07:37","slug":"from-defendant-to-plaintiff-bad-bunny-claims-thousands-of-dollars-after-winning-dispute-over-ensename-a-bailar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/uncategorized\/from-defendant-to-plaintiff-bad-bunny-claims-thousands-of-dollars-after-winning-dispute-over-ensename-a-bailar\/","title":{"rendered":"From defendant to plaintiff: Bad Bunny claims thousands of dollars after winning dispute over “Ens\u00e9\u00f1ame a bailar”"},"content":{"rendered":"The legal victory of Bad Bunny<\/strong> in the dispute over \u201cEns\u00e9\u00f1ame a bailar\u201d<\/strong> opened a new legal front. After the definitive dismissal of the lawsuit for alleged misuse of a sample, the Puerto Rican artist seeks that the plaintiff cover the costs of his defense.<\/strong>\n\nAccording to Billboard, the singer’s lawyers filed a formal request for the African record label emPawa Africa to pay $465,612 in legal fees accumulated during the process<\/strong>. The figure includes the work of a legal team that, according to the document, dedicated “hundreds of hours” to dismantling the accusations.\n\n\n

A Conflict Over a Musical Sample<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\nThe dispute began in 2024, when emPawa Africa \u2014 a company linked to the Nigerian composer Dera (Ezeani Chidera Godfrey) \u2014 sued Bad Bunny for allegedly using without authorization a fragment of the song \u201cEmpty My Pocket\u201d<\/strong> (2019) in \u201cEns\u00e9\u00f1ame a bailar\u201d from the album Un Verano Sin Ti.<\/strong><\/em>\n\n\n
We recommend reading:Bad Bunny, Taylor Swift, Rosal\u00eda and Sabina awarded at the Ode\u00f3n Awards in Spain<\/a><\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>The plaintiffs maintained that the sample was not only present in the instrumental, but that it “permeates the entire song,” and claimed to have previously notified the artist’s team without receiving a response. The artist’s legal team included lawyers with fees of up to $680 per hour (Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, the lawyers even questioned the singer’s conduct, pointing out that \u201cit is not very common for a musical artist of the caliber and sophistication of Bad Bunny to use music from another person without permission<\/strong>, and then ignore that person’s efforts to resolve the problem\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>However, the artist’s defense presented a completely different version:\u00a0the use of the sample had been authorized by another copyright holder of the original work, the producer Lakizo.<\/strong>\u00a0This point became the central focus of the case.<\/p>\n\n\nThe litigation did not reach a resolution on the merits. In early March 2026, federal judge Otis Wright dismissed the legal dispute with prejudice<\/strong> \u2014 that is, definitively \u2014 after the plaintiffs stopped moving forward with the case.\n\nAccording to the resolution cited by Billboard<\/em>, Dera \u201cdid not respond in time\u201d to a key deadline set by the court, which led to \u201cthe court dismissing this action and all claims filed in it\u201d.<\/strong>\n\nThe situation worsened after the law firm Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP, which represented the plaintiffs, withdrew from the case in January 2026 due to “irreparable differences” with its clients. Without legal representation, both the artist and the company stopped filing documents and meeting court deadlines.\n\nFollowing the dismissal, Bad Bunny’s legal team went on the offensive. In their request for reimbursement, the lawyers maintain that the accusation “lacked merit from the beginning” and was driven by financial motives. The album Un Verano Sin Ti spent 13 weeks at number one on the Billboard 200. (photo: El Colombiano)\n\n“This case should never have been brought,” notes the document cited by Billboard. “emPawa presented it and litigated aggressively,<\/strong> apparently expecting that Bad Bunny’s wealth, prominence, and desire to avoid legal fees and bad publicity would allow emPawa to obtain an undeserved multimillion-dollar settlement.”\n\nFurthermore, the defense accuses the company of having deliberately prolonged the process, using tactics to “delay and postpone” the litigation,<\/strong> before withdrawing in the evidence discovery phase.\n\nA relevant detail is that the reimbursement request does not target Dera personally<\/strong>. According to the defendants, they consider that the composer “was not the main person responsible for processing the claim, nor did he finance the litigation.”\n\n\n

You can also read:Judge dismisses lawsuit against Bad Bunny for alleged unauthorized sample<\/a><\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\nBad Bunny’s request falls within a relatively common practice in copyright disputes in the United States. The law allows the winning party to recover their legal fees if they can demonstrate that the claims were frivolous or unreasonably managed.\n\nThis type of measure seeks to discourage unsubstantiated lawsuits. Recent cases include Mariah Carey<\/strong>, who also requested millionaire compensation after winning a lawsuit, or the rapper Nelly, who claimed tens of thousands of dollars in similar circumstances.\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The legal victory of Bad Bunny in the dispute over \u201cEns\u00e9\u00f1ame a bailar\u201d opened a new legal front. After the definitive dismissal of the lawsuit for alleged misuse of a sample, the Puerto Rican artist seeks that the plaintiff cover the costs of his defense. According to Billboard, the singer’s lawyers filed a formal request […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133556,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-502974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-26Qu","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","dum_api":{"author_name":"Yerandi Santana","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cropped-WhatsApp-Image-2026-02-13-at-5.35.07-PM-96x96.jpeg","categories_name":["Uncategorized"],"featured_media_url":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133556"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502974\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}