This is The Legal Beat, a weekly e-newsletter about music regulation from Billboard Pro, providing you a one-stop cheat sheet of huge new instances, essential rulings and all of the enjoyable stuff in between.

This week: Diddy faces a sweeping felony indictment that accuses him of a long time of sexual abuse; Miley Cyrus will get hit with a copyright lawsuit over allegations that her chart-topping “Flowers” infringed a Bruno Mars observe; Eddy Grant wins his case in opposition to Donald Trump over the usage of “Electric Avenue” in a marketing campaign video; and far more.

THE BIG STORY: Diddy’s Downfall

Less than a yr after information broke a couple of civil lawsuit containing brutal accusations of sexual abuse in opposition to Sean “Diddy” Combs, the opposite shoe has lastly dropped. 

The once-powerful rapper was arrested in New York City on Monday evening on federal racketeering and intercourse trafficking fees. When prosecutors unsealed the indictment on Tuesday, they detailed allegations of a sprawling felony operation with a single intention: “fulfilling the personal desires of Combs, particularly those related to sexual gratification.” 

“For decades, Sean Combs … abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct,” the indictment reads. If convicted of the costs, Combs is dealing with a minimal sentence of 15 years in jail and a most of life behind bars. 

Later on Tuesday, Combs was arraigned in federal court docket and denied bail, leaving him in jail till an eventual trial. The decide stated Diddy posed a flight threat and was doubtlessly a hazard to others, swayed by arguments from prosecutors that he was a “serial abuser” who had a historical past of each violence and witness intimidation. 

In some ways, the costs in opposition to Diddy mirror these in opposition to R. Kelly, who was sentenced to 30 years in jail in 2022 over a decades-long scheme to abuse underage ladies. 

Like Kelly, prosecutors are focusing on Combs below the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a federal statute that bans felony enterprises composed of a number of individuals. While RICO is greatest often called a instrument to battle mobsters and drug cartels, the Kelly case proved that it may be equally efficient at focusing on a celebrity musician who used his fame and cash to construct what quantities to a felony group – just one aimed toward facilitating sexual abuse. 

And just like the Kelly case, the indictment of Combs has led to robust questions on why it took so lengthy for regulation enforcement to behave. When requested immediately at Tuesday’s press convention, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams demurred: “I can’t tell you why it took so long. I think the better focus is on the fact that we are here today and we are committed to making sure that justice is done.” 

For extra on the case, go learn our full story on Combs’ indictment, together with entry to the charging paperwork and statements from prosecutors, in addition to our protection on the bail listening to. And keep tuned because the case unfolds, as a result of Billboard might be maintaining you up to date with each growth.

THE OTHER BIG STORY: I Can Write My Own Songs?

Nearly two years after followers speculated that Miley Cyrus’ chart-topping “Flowers” was making pointed references to Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man,” an organization that owns a part of the Mars music is suing her for copyright infringement. 

The grievance was filed not by Mars himself however by an entity known as Tempo Music Investments that purchased a share of the copyright to his music from one in every of its co-writers. In it, legal professionals for that group declare the 2 songs have “striking similarities.” 

Whether or not they’re “striking,” the songs are clearly related. In the time-honored custom of an “answer song,” Cyrus inverts Mars’ lyrics and appeared to repeatedly rebut them – in a single occasion telling followers “I can buy myself flowers” when Mars stated “I should’ve bought you flowers.” The purpose for the references? Mars’ music was apparently a favourite of Cyrus’ ex-husband Liam Hemsworth, and the speculation goes that her repeated allusions had been a reference to their cut up. 

At the time, authorized specialists informed Billboard that Cyrus was probably not violating copyrights just by utilizing related lyrics to fireside again on the earlier music. This week’s lawsuit says the similarities go effectively past the lyrics, together with “melodic and harmonic material,” “pitch ending pattern,” and “bass-line structure.”  

But specialists stay skeptical. To perceive why, go learn our full story, together with feedback from copyright legal professionals and entry to the complete grievance filed in opposition to Cyrus. 

Other high tales this week…

‘ELECTRIC’ INFRINGEMENT – A federal decide dominated that Donald Trump infringed copyrights by utilizing Eddy Grant’s iconic “Electric Avenue” in a 2020 marketing campaign video with out permission. Trump claimed that he made authorized truthful use of the music by utilizing it in a video attacking Joe Biden, however the decide known as it one thing else: “wholesale copying of music to accompany a political campaign ad.” Up subsequent: A ruling on how a lot Grant is owed in damages. 

MORE DIDDY -Tuesday’s indictment overshadowed all the things else, but it surely wasn’t the one Diddy Law story from the previous week. The rapper was hit with a brand new civil lawsuit from Dawn Richard, a winner of MTV’s Making the Band who says he subjected her to years of “abuse and exploitation.” He additionally moved to put aside a $100 million default judgment gained by a Michigan inmate, arguing he was by no means served with the “frivolous” sexual assault allegations and would have simply defeated them if he had been. 

DOLAN DEPOSITION – A federal decide dominated that Madison Square Garden proprietor James Dolan should sit for a deposition over the notorious 2017 ejection of ex-NBA participant Charles Oakley from the Manhattan enviornment, ruling that the CEO “had a courtside seat” for the incident. Defense legal professionals argued that Dolan, who additionally controls the Las Vegas Sphere and Radio City Music Hall, shouldn’t be personally dragged right into a deposition, however a decide stated the exec “likely possesses relevant knowledge that cannot be obtained from other witnesses.”

RATE DEBATE – BMI filed a rate-setting case in opposition to SiriusXM in federal court docket after they failed to achieve a deal throughout greater than two years of negotiations, arguing the radio firm is “no longer a startup” and should pay extra to songwriters. Among different issues, BMI pointed to SiriusXM’s rising reliance on web streaming somewhat than old-school satellite tv for pc radio. “Digital music services pay higher rates to BMI than satellite radio, and the new SiriusXM rate should reflect this expansion of digital performances.”

TAYLOR ENDORSEMENT – When Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for president, the singer stated she was spurred to motion by her fears about synthetic intelligence — particularly, an incident final month during which Donald Trump posted AI-generated photographs that falsely claimed the celebrity’s assist. Experts informed Billboard on the time that Swift may have sued Trump, however they predicted (precisely, it seems) that the star would in all probability simply battle Trump’s fakery with a official endorsement of her personal.

PHARMA FIGHT – Johnson & Johnson was hit with a copyright lawsuit accusing the pharma big of “rampant infringement” of instrumental music in YouTube and Facebook movies. Associated Production Music (APM) – a three way partnership of Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing — claimed J&J launched practically 80 completely different web movies that includes unlicensed music from its catalog.