Chris Brown, Greensleeves In Settlement Talks For Copyright Lawsuit Over Red Rat’s Song

Reggae label Greensleeves Publishing, American singer Chris Brown and his label Sony Music are looking to settle their legal dispute outside of court but will need more time to potentially do so, according to court documents obtained by DancehallMag.

The three parties are engaging in settlement talks for the contentious US$1.5 million copyright lawsuit brought by the plaintiff Greensleeves in July 2021, which alleges that Brown and Sony ripped off lyrics and rhythms from Dancehall deejay Red Rat’s Tight Up Skirt (1997) and used them in Chris Brown’s Privacy (2017).

On Monday (June 6), the attorney for Greensleeves, Daniel J. Aaron, submitted a joint status report on behalf of all parties in the matter, requesting a 90-day extension to the scheduling order (deadlines for different stages of the lawsuit). The request was granted a day later (June 7) by Judge Robert J. Lehrburger of the United States District Court, Southern District of New York.

Aarons indicated in the letter that he had “conferred with Brown and SONY’s attorney” and that the parties “voluntarily exchanged certain financial and other information in advance of formal discovery with the hope of potentially resolving this matter by way of settlement or, minimally, narrowing the issues in the case”.

“The parties are continuing to explore creative business methods in an attempt to amicably resolve the matter without the need to burden the Court.  The parties have also exchanged discovery requests and are in the process of responding to those requests,” the attorney also stated in the letter.

Additionally, he noted that “discovery”, which is where both sides collect and exchange information about the case and prepare for trial, had been delayed due to multiple issues, among them “a critical illness in the family of defendant Sony’s counsel; the birth of a child by the executive in charge of Greensleeves’ case; and plaintiff’s counsel’s contraction of COVID”.

In the complaint filed last year, Greensleeves contended that Tight Up Skirt, which was registered with the United States Copyright Office on March 16, 2020, had been exploited by Chris Brown and SONY, “without authorization or permission and constitutes an infringement of the copyright in the musical composition”.

Greensleeves, which was acquired by VP Records in 2008, had also stated that they “owned and administered exclusive music publishing rights in the United States to the copyright to the musical composition Tight Up Skirt”.  In detailing the infringements, Greensleeves had argued that Privacy included the phrase at the start of its chorus: “Hey you girl without a tight up skirt!” and that Tight Up Skirt included 18 occurrences and variations of the phrase: “Hey you girl inna di tight up skirt!” throughout the song, and that the rhythms during the ‘tight up skirt’ phrases in both songs, were identical.

In their response to the complaint, Brown and Sony lawyers rejected the majority of Greensleeves’ allegations.

Chris Brown, who is represented by Pryor Cashman LLP, has claimed that any alleged similarities between Privacy and Tight Up Skirt are not “actionable” as, among other things, they pertain to “commonplace, unprotectable elements; exist in prior art; are a de minimis [immaterial]; and/or constitute a fair use”.

On the other hand, Sony, which is being represented by Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, P.C., has stated that Greensleeves does not own a valid copyright for Tight Up Skirt; and that the portion of the song, which was allegedly infringed upon, was “insufficiently original to warrant copyright protection.”

After news of the lawsuit surfaced, Red Rat revealed that it had been filed without his knowledge or permission, and noted in an Instagram post in July last year that: “Greensleeves and the individuals involved in the lawsuit against Mr. Brown are not and have not been authorised by myself or anyone acting on my behalf, to represent my interest.  They do so without proper grounds to act”.

When asked whether Red Rat will make a counterclaim, his attorney Merrick Dammar told DancehallMag last year that “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.”

Privacy, which appeared on Brown’s eighth studio album, Heartbreak on a Full Moon, is certified double platinum in the United States and has more than 270 million views on YouTube, for audio and video collectively.

Red Rat’s Tight Up Skirt was released in 1997 and later appeared on his Oh No album.  It was produced by his former Main Street stablemate Buccaneer, known for hits such as Bruk Out, Hot Bwoy, Tek It Easy, and How Can She Forget.  It was also sampled by Dancehall singjay Samantha J in her 2013 song Tight Skirt.

In 2017, Red Rat had told The Jamaica Observer in an interview that his phone had been ringing nonstop since Chris Brown sampled Tight Up Skirt, and said that he was happy for the exposure and the longevity of his music.  “All I can say is: ‘Give God all the glory.  I think that because Chris Brown, who is one of the biggest pop stars globally, feeling the need to sample a piece of Tight Up Skirt only shows how much he loves and respects Red Rat and his catalogue. It also shows how much of a fan he is to the music,” he had said.

The veteran deejay has voiced several other hit songs over the years including Shelly-Ann, Big Man, Italee, Cruise, Dwayne, and Little Youth featuring Goofy.