Dr Dre has won a major legal battle over digital sales of his landmark album The Chronic. After years of litigation, a judge has ruled that a reissue of the 1992 LP violated the terms of the hip-hop star's contract with Death Row Records, which allowed only physical sales of the album.
Dre has spent millions fighting the label he co-founded. The rapper and producer launched Death Row in 1991, and The Chronic was its first release. Dre left the label five years later, after a notorious dispute with co-founder Suge Knight. Though Death Row was sold in 2008, the new owners decided to capitalise on its catalogue by reissuing The Chronic in September 2009 as The Chronic Re-Lit. This was a remastered version of the album, louder and with better "sonic clarity", according to Billboard. Dre has since launched several lawsuits, arguing that Death Row did not have the right to reissue the album, as well as pursuing the label over digital sales of his tracks.
This week, US district court judge Christina Snyder found that the terms of Dre's Death Row contract unambiguously prohibited the label from selling digital versions of his songs. "For years, Death Row Records forgot about Dre," his lawyer said. "We are gratified that the federal court has [agreed] that Death Row has no right to engage in such tactics." The case will now proceed to the issue of damages, Reuters reports, though the exact amount may be decided by a jury trial.
The decision is a turnaround from Snyder's ruling last year, which dismissed Dre's claim that The Chronic Re-Lit consisted of trademark infringement, false endorsement and a publicity rights violation. Citing the Monty Python rule, the judge found Death Row's tweaks of the album cover to be "minor and inconsequential".
The Monty Python rule was set in 1976, when the British comedy troupe sued American network ABC. The Pythons complained that their series had been heavily edited for US TV, without permission, and thus constituted copyright infringement. A judge ruled against the Flying Circus act, finding that ABC's changes were cosmetic.
Dr Dre is one of several high-profile artists to contest rights to digital royalties. Acts including Pink Floyd and Eminem have argued for millions in unpaid fees, mostly due to contracts that predate the boom in downloads.
