After Damon Dash announced plans to sell a portion of Jay-Z’s debut album, Reasonable Doubt as an NFT, Roc-A-Fella Records filed a lawsuit against him last year. Although the lawsuit is still pending, Jay-Z and Dash are apparently in talks to reach an agreement.
Roc-A-Fella Records was founded in 1995 by Jay-Z, Dame Dash, and Kareem “Biggs” Burke. Dame Dash has been attempting to sell his stake in the label, claiming that this is the true cause behind Hov aka Jay-Z’s lawsuit.
In a filing earlier this week, Jay-Z’s lawyer Alex Spiro stated that Dash and Jay were meeting and talking to see if they could strike a settlement deal that would bring the lawsuit to a close.
Dash currently owns a third of Roc-A-Fella, but Spiro and Jay argue that Dash’s ownership of the company does not allow him the right to sell any part of the record.
Dash defended himself by claiming that he only wanted to sell his share of Roc-A-Fella’s ownership, not the album’s rights. Despite this, a judge granted a restraining order prohibiting Dash from making any album-related sales.
In his most recent update on the lawsuit, Spiro says that Dash has acknowledged that he does not have the legal right to sell any portion of the album while the dispute is pending.
There’s potential that their court struggle will be over soon now that both parties are willing to discuss the parameters of a settlement. In his letter, Spiro requested that the settlement talks be extended until April 1st.
If they can’t reach a deal, Spiro intends to file a motion seeking a full win in the case and a permanent injunction prohibiting Dash from selling any part of Roc-A-Fella’s assets.
Even last month we saw another NFT lawsuit ongoing where sports apparel giant Nike sued resale platform StockX claiming that the latter sold over 500 Nike-branded NFTs. Nike accused that their sneakers are being sold as NFTs that contain trademarked material without authorization.
