Photo Credit: Vanderlind / CC by 4.0
DJ 3LAU is close to settling a lawsuit over the sale of his NFT album Ultraviolet. Here’s the latest.
3LAU offered an NFT auction linked to his 2018 album and specifically to the song, “Walk Away,” which was done in collaboration with Luna Aura. In the lawsuit, Aura alleges that while 3LAU owns the copyright of the recording for “Walk Away,” she has a 30% stake in the song copyright, and was also due a 50% artist royalty under contract. She says 3LAU did not properly license the “Walk Away” track for his NFT track. Rather than license it properly, she alleges the DJ offered a standalone payment of $25,000 for the song.
“Luna Aura has not received any compensation from revenues generated from the NFT project, nor as Luna Aura (received) appropriate credit in connection with the ‘Walk Away’ and Ultraviolet NFTs,” writes Flores’ lawyers. “Despite the commercial and financial success of the NFT auction, defendants only offered Luna Aura an after-the-fact, one-time payment.”
Now it looks as though both sides of the argument have agreed to settle the case. Digital Music News has obtained court proof that the two parties have decided to settle the matter. If the settlement is not finalized within 30 days, the case will continue.
“If the parties wish for the Court to retain jurisdiction for the purposes of enforcing any settlement agreement, they must submit the settlement to the Court by the deadline to re-open to be ‘so ordered’ by the Court,” reads the documents obtained by DMN. “Per Paragraph 6.A of the Court’s individual rules and practices for civil cases, unless the court orders otherwise, the court will not retain jurisdiction to enforce a settlement agreement unless it is made part of the public record.”
Meanwhile, Blau’s manager Andrew Goldstone released the following statement: “These claims are without merit, and we will vigorously defend the lawsuit that was just filed without any prior notice. There are no set standards for how to approach an NFT project like this, which involved much more than just the music. Justin’s team tried for months to reach a deal with Flores in good faith, but she stopped responding and instead chose to file a lawsuit.”