The music moguls had been accused of copyright infringement by Michael Medina, the founder of a New York Latin band of the same name.
The two parties were essentially disputing over their classification of the project. Medina insisted that the project was a music video that was created with his Latin duo in mind due to parts of the film being set to music and various mentions of the slang term, which means “Lower East Siders.” West and Dash consider the project a film that was created without regard to or knowledge of the Bachata duo.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest reportedly found that Medina’s claim was “devoid of concrete allegations that defendants attempted to suggest that plaintiff’s duo produced the work. To the contrary, as evidenced by Exhibit D to the operative complaint, materials promoting the film prominently informed the reader that it was ‘Executive Produced: Dame Dash & Kanye West.’”
The judge went on to say that although Medina is entitled to protect the trademark of his duo, he does not have the right to lay claim on all usage of a pre-existing term.
According to the New York Daily News, Medina’s lawyer relayed his client’s dissatisfaction with the verdict.
“It’s very damaging because the public will obviously acquaint the trademark they’ve built up for beautiful, romantic bachata music with the highly publicized gangsta rap group that was made more popular by the powerful music mogul Kanye West,” John Bostany, Medina’s lawyer, said.
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