OH NO! Red Rat Says Greensleeves Filed Lawsuit Against Chris Brown Without His Knowledge Or Permission
Legal representatives of Dancehall star Red Rat have alleged that Greensleeves and the individuals involved in the lawsuit against R&B superstar Chris Brown have not been authorized by the deejay to act on his behalf or his interests.
In fact, Red Rat’s lawyers are alleging that UK-based Greensleeves Publishing Ltd filed the lawsuit against Brown “without proper grounds to act”.
“We were surprised at the lawsuit, we were actually shocked. Greensleeves acted without knowledge or permission from Red Rat and we thought that their move was a bit presumptuous and beyond their rights and jurisdiction. Their actions have not been sanctioned by Red Rat or anyone positively associated with Red Rat,” New York-based attorney at law Merrick Dammar told DancehallMag.
Pressed whether there may be a counterclaim filed in the US courts soon, Dammar said: “Everything is on the table, anything is possible at this time, we’re considering all legal remedies at this point. We’re gonna ensure that Red Rat’s rights are protected to the fullest so everything that is possible legally and is viable will be pursued.”
Greensleeves is suing Chris Brown and his Manhattan-based record label Sony Music Entertainment for $US1.5 million, alleging that Brown ripped off lyrics from Tight Up Skirt to create the Privacy single and music video, which were released in 2017.
Tight Up Skirt was recorded in 1997 by Red Rat, and produced by Andrew Bradford for the Opera House label. DancehallMag spoke with Bradford last week, who is also Dancehall deejay Buccaneer (Bruk Out, Tek It Easy, How Can She Forget), and he too was surprised by Greensleeves’ lawsuit.
“I did license it [Tight Up Skirt] to VP [Records] and Greensleeves dem time de. At that time, they were two separate companies. Couple years ago, Rat called me about the tune, and Rat told me that VP owned the master rights but as far as I know, in the 90s, we producers never used to licence exclusively to Greensleeves and VP,” he told DancehallMag. “I have to get a lawyer and go through the contracts and know what is what,” Buccaneer added.
In the complaint filed on July 2, Greensleeves contends that Chris Brown and Sony Music Entertainment’s “exploitation of Tight Up Skirt has occurred without authorization or permission and constitutes an infringement of the copyright in the musical composition.”
Greensleeves, which was acquired by VP Records in 2008, said that they ‘owned and administered exclusive music publishing rights in the United States to the copyright to the musical composition Tight Up Skirt.’
They further added that Tight Up Skirt was “registered with the United States Copyright Office on March 16, 2020.”
We have reached out to VP Records for comment on this story but did not immediately hear back.
Red Rat, who is known for his “Oh No!” catchphrase and other hits like Shelly-Ann, Big Man, Italee, Cruise, Dwayne, and Little Youth featuring Goofy, has also posted a terse statement on his Instagram account today.
“Greensleeves and the individuals involved in the lawsuit against Mr. Brown are not and have not been authorized by myself or anyone acting on my behalf to represent my interest,” he wrote. “They do so without proper grounds to act”.