Ye wins big as judge drops majority of ‘Donda’ infringement claims

A federal judge in California has dismissed most copyright infringement claims against Kanye West, now known as Ye, in a lawsuit over two tracks from his 2021 album Donda.

On February 26, Judge Michelle Williams Court of the US District Court for the Central District of California granted summary judgment in favor of West on the majority of the claims. A narrower set of allegations will proceed to trial on April 20. A mediation session on February 20 failed to resolve the dispute.

The lawsuit was filed in July 2024 by Artist Revenue Advocates (ARA), a Delaware limited liability company whose investors include Actio Capital. ARA represents four musicians: Khalil Abdul Rahman (also known as DJ Khalil), Sam Barsh, Dan Seeff, and Josh Mease. They claim West’s songs Hurricane and Moon infringed their 2018 musical composition and sound recording titled MSD PT2.

Court documents show Rahman sent a Dropbox folder with MSD PT2 to producer Nascent in March 2018. Six months later, Nascent sent Rahman a link to an Instagram post by West featuring 80 Degrees, an early demo version of Hurricane that used elements of MSD PT2.

Rahman responded positively, and the musicians shared the post on social media. The musicians received formal composer credits on Hurricane, and Rahman received producer credits on both Hurricane and Moon. They also earned Grammy nominations linked to Donda and received some royalties.

The court ruled that ARA did not obtain a valid written transfer of the MSD PT2 musical composition copyright. Federal copyright law requires transfers of ownership to be in writing and signed by the rights owner; oral agreements are insufficient. This eliminated all claims based on the composition.

For the sound recording claims, ARA’s musicology expert, Joe Bennett from Berklee College of Music, stated that the final album versions of Hurricane and Moon do not contain samples of MSD PT2’s sound recording.

Sample-detection tests showed no match, leading the court to grant summary judgment on those claims as well. The remaining claim focuses on pre-release versions of Hurricane.

Bennett concluded that MSD PT2’s sound recording was used in the 80 Degrees demo and at Listening Party 1, one of West’s public playback events in summer 2021, where early album versions were performed.

ARA argues these versions were commercially exploited through deals with Apple and other partners. The case is Artist Revenue Advocates LLC v. West in the US District Court for the Central District of California.