{
  "id": 2399837,
  "title": "Judge Denies Bad Bunny Nearly $500,000 in Legal Fees in Un Verano Sin Ti Sample Case",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/21/judge-denies-bad-bunny-nearly-500-000-in-legal-fees-in-un-verano-sin",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-21T16:04:45.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Consequence",
    "slug": "consequence",
    "url": "https://consequence.net/2026/08/judge-denies-bad-bunny-legal-fees-lawsuit/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "A federal judge has dismissed Bad Bunny's request to recover nearly $500,000 in legal fees after he successfully fought a copyright lawsuit involving a sample used on his 2022 album, Un Verano Sin Ti. U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II ruled that Empawa Africa had brought an \"objectively reasonable\" case and rejected Bad Bunny's argument that the company pursued the lawsuit with improper motives. The dispute centered on \"Enséñame a Bailar,\" which samples \"Empty My Pocket,\" a 2019 song by Nigerian artist Dera. Bad Bunny's attorneys had maintained that the sample had been properly licensed, but the judge disagreed, noting that Bad Bunny had used the copyrighted material and his attorneys had not provided Empawa with documentation proving they had permission to sample it.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}