Pupa Nas-T Moves For Default Judgement In Copyright Lawsuit Against Shenseea, Interscope
New York-based producer Anastas ‘Pupa Nas-T’ Hackett is making the required moves to secure a default judgment against Jamaican singer Shenseea and her label Interscope Records, ahead of a deadline set by a US judge last month.
The latest filing suggests that no settlement or resolution has been reached outside of court since Hackett filed the $10 million copyright lawsuit in March this year over Shenseea’s Lick collab with rapper Megan Thee Stallion.
On Wednesday (July 6), Hackett filed a proposed Certificate of Default, which is required by the New York Court before a default judgment motion can be submitted.
The document, seen by DancehallMag, outlined the date the lawsuit commenced, the names of the defendants who were served, who was actually served with the complaint, and the date the proof of service was filed.
After the Clerk’s Office of the court reviews and processes the proposed document, Hackett may then seek a Default Judgment “against the defendants in an amount to be determined by the Court.”
Last month, on June 14, Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil set July 14, 2022 as the deadline by which Hackett would be allowed to file the motion of Default Judgement against the 25-year-old singer and her label. Vyskocil had also dismissed the lawsuit against the two other named defendants, ATAL Music Limited and Alexandre Escolier, after Hackett failed to file proof of service of a summons on them.
Hackett did, however, provide proof of service on Shenseea, whose real name is Chinsea Linda Lee, and Interscope Records on June 7. The court records show that the singer and her label were each served on April 22, 2022 via delivery of the 9-page complaint to Kartik Pandya, an “Intake Specialist” at Wolters Kluwer, who is supposedly authorized to accept service on behalf of Interscope and Shenseea at a New York address.
Shenseea and Interscope were required to respond to the complaint by May 13, 2022, and they did not seek an extension to that deadline, the court records show.
Shenseea’s Lick made extensive use of the vocal sample “put your back in it” from Trinidad Soca singer Denise “Saucey Wow” Belfon’s Work. According to Hackett, who produced and co-wrote Work with Harkness Taitt in 1999, he refused a September 2021 request for clearance due to “inadequate terms offered” by Shenseea and her co-defendants.
He contends that the song was later released “without [his] authority or consent” on January 21, 2022 “in violation of the United States Copyright Act.”
The lawsuit demanded, among other things, that Hackett be awarded copyright infringement damages in the amount of $150,000; wilful infringement damages in excess of $10,000,000; and actual damages and profits from 43 sources including sales, ringtones, streaming, endorsements, and touring. Additionally, the suit demanded that the Court order Shenseea and her co-defendants to remove and destroy all traces of Lick from the public domain.
Lick is currently Shenseea’s highest-charting song in the United States, as a lead artist. It peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100.
The Blessed singer had signed to Interscope Records/Rich Immigrants in 2019, a joint venture spearheaded by Jamaican producer Rvssian.