The NFT legal saga continues. The court reportedly ruled in Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella’s favor. To be exact, the federal judge prohibited Damon Dash from selling the Reasonable Doubt NFT Album. Similarly, any planned auction must be halted.
Jay-Z = 1; Damon = 0
The ruling is only temporary. However, according to TMZ, a source claims that the New York federal judge said that Jay-z and Roc-A-Fella’s arguments were “deemed credible and correct.” Judge John P. Cronan of the New York District Court resolved to freeze the transaction and prevent Dash from selling the album’s copyright until after a July 1 hearing.
Specifically, the court granted Atty. Alex Spiro’s requests: “The bottom line is simple: Dash can’t sell what he doesn’t own. By attempting such a sale, Dash has converted a corporate asset and has breached his fiduciary duties. His planned auction of Reasonable Doubt would result in irreparable harm. The Court should stop Dash from attempting to sell the copyright to Reasonable Doubt, require Dash to return the NFT of Reasonable Doubt to RAF, Inc., and hold him accountable for this brazen theft of RAF, Inc.’s most prized asset.”
The lawsuit is expected to heat up once Dash submits his response to the temporary restraining order. The NFT Marketplace, SuperFarm, is not part of the lawsuit but has a crucial role in this narrative. This case is a test of how NFT Marketplaces will handle disputes over copyrights and IP. Additionally, this is the first high-profile NFT case in the industry so it is expected to set a precedent for future cases.
Dash laments, “So there’s been no announcement, it’s not minted, none of that. No auction was shut down; you never heard of an announcement. You know this game. They did it on a Friday so it could just run the whole weekend to devalue my auction… It’s not fair to accuse somebody of being a thief publicly that’s not.”
More about the Lawsuit
Jay-Z’s debut album received widespread critical success. It also solidified the iconic hip-hop artists standing in the music industry. Undoubtedly, it is RAF’s most prized asset so we can expect that their camp will fight Damon Dash to the end.
This is a developing story. Four days ago, Jay-Z and Music Label Roc-A-Fellas filed a lawsuit against Damon Dash for attempting to auction off the “Reasonable Doubt” album as an NFT. Damon Dash hit back at them and claimed that he is not selling the album as an NFT. Instead, he is finding a new buyer for his stake at the music label.
The time has come for legal battles over NFTs. Along with that, the regulations will also be cleared up and it can inspire the confidence of potential NFT buyers. Beyond the he-said-she-said, this lawsuit can change a lot in the industry and shed some light on how to approach copyrights and IP issues.
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