A copyright infringement claim against Pryor Cashman clients Ed Sheeran, Benny Blanco, Khalid, Halsey, and “Happy” Perez was dropped in California federal court.
The lawsuit over the 2018 hit song “Eastside,” in which American XO members Konstantine Lois and Shane Williams claimed that the musicians copied elements of an earlier song, ended when Lois and Williams moved to dismiss the case.
Sheeran, Blanco, Khalid, Halsey, and Perez were represented in the matter by Pryor Cashman Partners Donald Zakarin, Ilene Farkas, and Benjamin Akley, and Counsel Andrew Goldsmith.
Don commented on the dismissal to Billboard, saying:
While we are grateful that plaintiffs belatedly recognized they had no viable claim of copyright infringement, it is unfortunate that our clients … ever had to deal with an infringement accusation that never should have been made. Like many of the infringement cases we have been seeing in the last few years, baseless infringement claims come at a cost, not merely to our clients in defending but to the public because they will inevitably chill creativity.
“Eastside” was a Top 10 hit, spending 52 weeks on the Hot 100 chart.
Read more about the case using the link below.
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