Photo credit: Junta de Andalucia / CC by 2.0
A federal judge rules that the plaintiff’s expert witness is unqualified and throws out a lawsuit accusing Karol G and DJ Tiësto of copyright infringement.
In Miami, a federal judge has thrown out a case accusing Karol G and DJ Tiësto of copyright infringement over their 2021 hit, “Don’t Be Shy.” A Wednesday ruling by Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga granted summary judgment to Karol G and Tiësto, also dismissing claims against Atlantic Records, Kobalt, Sony Music Publishing, and Warner Records.
Cuban-American songwriter Rene Lorente-Garcia sued in 2023, claiming that “Don’t Be Shy,” Karol G’s first English-language song, copied the harmony, melody, and rhythm of his 1998 song, “Algo DiFerente.”
Lorente-Garcia’s attorneys countered an expert witness brought by the defendants—covid litigation specialist Dr. Lawrence Ferrara—with their own: Richie Viera, a Latin music producer and former A&R executive at Capitol Records. But Judge Altonaga says Viera is not a qualified musicology expert .
“While your resume highlights substantial experience in the business side of the Latin music industry, […] None of these roles involve the core competencies of forensic musicology: transcribing compositions, analyzing protectable expression, or applying comparative methodologies to determine similarities,” Judge Altonaga wrote.
Without an expert musicologist on their side, the judge said Lorente-Garcia’s lawyers would need to provide evidence that the “Don’t Shy” writers had access to their clients’ previous music. But the evidence, the judge said, “reveals little more than the presence of ‘Something Different’ in the digital ether, one of millions of songs.” Therefore, she ruled that “no reasonable jury” could determine that Karol G and Tiësto had heard the song.
“This was a misguided case that should never have been brought,” said Donald Zakarin of Pryor Cashman, which represents Tiësto and Karol G in addition to the label and publisher defendants. “There was no possibility of access, and […] The claimed ‘similarities’ were common musical building blocks found in several pre-existing works.”
“It’s wrong that successful songwriters and artists are so often subjected to objectively unfounded claims that are costly to fight,” Zakarin continued. “But fighting these allegations is the right thing to do, and we’re grateful to our clients and their representatives for standing up to protect all songwriters.”
