Just two weeks after Beats by Dre launched the “Decades” collection to celebrate its 10-year anniversary, Beats Electronics, Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine are fighting a lawsuit for over $100 million.
According to Billboard, entrepreneur Steven Lamar claims he created the idea of a celebrity-endorsed headphones line and brought it to Dre back in 2006. After having a fallout a few years later, Dre and Iovine sued Lamar for a breach of contract. The lawsuit left Lamar without rights, but in exchange, he would receive a four percent royalty from every headphone sold.
Now, the parties are battling it out in court to figure out if Lamar is owed more than $100 million in royalties for all versions of Beats sold or just the first model. The lawsuit was initially denied by a trial judge but was revived in 2016 by an appeals court after it determined the royalty agreement was “ambiguous.”
The respective sides have already begun to present evidence in court. Dre and Iovine claim when the deal was done, they had no idea there would be more versions of Beats created. But Lamar has reportedly presented a Powerpoint from early stages of the company that shows different models and future ideas for the headphones line.
Regardless of the outcome, Dre and Iovine are due to receive $700 million from their stock in Beats Electronic in August.
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“Dre and Iovine claim when the deal was done, they had no idea there would be more versions of Beats created. “ LMAAAAAAO! Riiiiiiight….
That right there makes it sound like Dre and Loving are gonna end up paying
Hope this loser gets nothing and loses his case
Why? Sounds like the original idea was his. And it’s very hard to believe that Dre and Jimmy ever planned on only releasing one version of the headphones. That is ridiculous. Hope this guy gets the bread he rightfully deserves.
To say he’s owed royalties because he pitched “celebrity-endorsed headphones” to Dre at some point isn’t a very strong argument. On the other hand if he played a role in designing the appearance of the headphones or say even the logo then maybe there’s an argument there. Beats are trash anyways, for the price of Beats you could go with a real audiophile brand and get something twice the quality.
Lamar did pull the original team together.
“Lamar claims that it was him who originally pitched the idea of celeb-endorsed headphones to then Universal exec Iovine in 2006. He also says that he pulled together the original consortium of companies to work on the design and manufacture of the initial Beats products.”
When dealing on this level have your paper work to back you up because things like this happen every day courts will decide the out come
All this for fucking selling head phones
I bought a pair of Beats before to check out all the hype. The audio quality sucks on them. I ended up giving them away to one of my little cousins. My AKGs and Grados sound way better. The best headphones I’ve ever tried was the Audeze 4s.
Sounds like he’s owed something
Pay up nigguh. Oh and whigguh.
AND FAST!
I have no idea why these rappers kept falling for this scrawny ass hoe. She doesn’t even look good!!
True cost of these headphones is $14. Made in China.
Pay the man! Stop the bull.