Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre Owe Ex Beats Partner $25M After Losing Court Battle

*Beats Electronics cofounders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine must fork over $25 million to their former business partner Steven Lamar after losing a lawsuit over their headphone designs.

A jLos Angeles Superior Court jury awarded Lamar $25,247,350 after ruling that Dre and Iovine had not compensated him for the design work he did on three headphone models. The pair had tried to argue that Lamar was only owed royalties on one model, based on a 2007 agreement

“We are pleased by this result for Mr. Lamar as it recognizes the key role he played in the origin of the world’s most recognizable headphones,” said Susman Godfrey partner Brian D. Melton, who served as lead trial counsel to Lamar. “We are thankful to the jury for providing this long-sought vindication for him.”

More details of the lawsuit below, via Variety:

In 2006, Dre’s lawyers filed a suit against Jibe, Lamar and the design firm Pentagram (of which co-designer Robert Brunner was a partner) and Lamar accusing them of failing to meet contractual agreements. In a 2007 settlement, Iovine and Dre agreed to pay a royalty on the basis of “4 percent base price of every headphone,” but only one headphone, Beats Studio, was specified.

The plaintiff argued that the design carried over to other models and the jury agreed, deciding on Wednesday that the original headphone’s characteristics had been used on later models with “minor cosmetic changes” and that Dre and Iovine should pay $25,247,350 in royalties on the Studio 2 Remastered, the Studio 2 Wireless and the Studio 3 models.

In his complaint, Lamar essentially argues that the idea for Beats by Dre was his: “In or about January 2006, Lamar introduced his concept for celebrity musical artist-endorsed headphones to Jimmy Iovine … [who] proposed that Dre be the celebrity musical artist. … Together, Lamar and Pentagram developed design and branding concepts including trademarks, logos, packaging and headphone product designs. In or about February 2006, Lamara and Pentagram presented their initial design and branding concepts to Iovine, Dre and others at Interscope.” It notes that around July 2006 “the business relationship between the involved parties soured,” and the settlement and mutual release agreement was reached in April of the following year.

Beats was founded by Dre and Iovine in 2006 as Beats by Dre and was sold to Apple Inc. in 2014 for $3 billion.

We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!

YOU MAY LIKE

SEARCH

- Advertisement -

TRENDING