Photo Credit: Kevin9625Ja / CC by 4.0
The Bad Bunny copyright infringement lawsuit over the track “Safaera” may be coming to a close.
The lawsuit was filed in 2021 by AOM Music, Inc. The suit claims that “Safaera” contained music from DJ Playero’s Playero mixtapes—specifically referencing “Besa Tu Cuerpo,” “Choca con Bicho,” and “Sigan Bailando.” Bad Bunny and his collaborators on the “Safaera” track have reached a preliminary settlement with Omar Merced.
Pitchfork reports that the parties involved have reached a “settlement in principle” during a recent mediation. A draft of that settlement has been circulated but will undergo a complex review process through multiple corporate and individual parties. Following the mediation results, a federal judge in California has suspended hearings for the case. If a formal dismissal of the case isn’t filed by February 17, then parties must report on the settlement process.
The original lawsuit sought $150,000 in statutory damages for each infringed work or actual damages. Jowell & Randy, and Ñengo Flow were both featured on the track and were named, as well as the song’s producers, DJ Orma and Tainy. The situation sparked discussion on Twitter between those who have samples on the track.
“F*ck that! Let them enjoy their money. It’s not you and me enjoying it, right? Let them be happy and talk about something else. Missy don’t even care, why would you?” tweeted Jowell to a fan account about the split for writers. “Sadly you mislead all these people to make them think I have 99%,” Missy Elliot tweeted in reply. “Now I don’t talk business on line because that’s messy but now we are here I have 25% and there is six other samples & 15 other writers on this one song. They got percentage also,” the rapper tweeted.
“Missy, something got lost in translation cuz I never said you take 99% that’s impossible there are a whole bunch of other peoples in there. I’m cool with my 1%,” Jowell tweeted. “I”m glad that you now mention that there are many other samples/writers on this track that got their percentages that you hadn’t named,” she replied.