Bakar lawsuit

A live performance from Bakar, whose viral ‘Hell N Back’ is at the center of a new copyright infringement lawsuit. Photo Credit: Tackofall099

Bakar’s viral “Hell N Back” has crashed into a massive copyright infringement lawsuit for allegedly sampling a decades-old track without proper authorization.

New York City-based Tuff City Records fired off the multifaceted complaint yesterday, naming as defendants not only Bakar, but Resnik Music Group, Sony Music UK, its Black Butter Records imprint, and others yet.

As some already know, the nearly six-year-old “Hell N Back” is still riding a wave of commercial momentum – including on TikTok, where it’s featured in millions of clips. Beyond the short-form app, the track (which Summer Walker remixed in 2023) is said to have appeared in a trailer for Disney’s Elemental and on American Idol.

Putting those pertinent details on the backburner for a moment, plaintiff Tuff City Records currently specializes in “rescuing thousands of blues, jazz, funk, soul and R&B treasures from obscurity,” its website shows.

Overall, the company owns and administers “tens of thousands of musical recordings and compositions,” per the suit. And as the filing party tells the story, that pile of IP includes a 1967 song entitled (ironically enough) “I Caught You in a Lie.”

As laid out in the action, multiple years and agreements later, full ownership of the recording (released by Robert Parker) and the composition (penned by Lee Diamond) ultimately wound up with Tuff City.

That’s a decidedly important point for the plaintiff, which believes that “Hell N Back” and its remix sample “the entire rhythm track (including all of the bass and drum sounds)” from “I Caught You in a Lie.” It probably doesn’t need saying given the suit, but the alleged usages “were not authorized by” Tuff City.

How, then, did an allegedly infringing track release via a major label imprint and rack up 900 million Spotify streams (while recording several different consumption feats to boot) before this complaint’s submission?

On the compositional side, Tuff City is placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of the aforesaid Resnik Music Group and its alleged “false claim of ownership” over “I Caught You in a Lie.”

Long story short, Resnik Music allegedly maintains that it’s the actual owner based on a series of rights transfers stemming from the above-noted Lee Diamond.

On top of allegedly securing royalties to which it’s not entitled, Resnik Music has allegedly denied the plaintiff its “opportunity to license” the composition.

“Based on their claimed ownership of the Composition,” the suit reads in part, “Defendants [Robert] Resnik and Resnik Music and their counsel have demanded that Plaintiff abandon its ownership claims.”

DMN reached out to Resnik Music for comment but didn’t immediately receive a response. However, “I Caught You in a Lie” seemingly remained available to license via Resnik Music’s website at the time of writing.

And when it comes to the relevant recordings, Tuff City (which says it “repeatedly notified” the defendants of its concerns) is pointing to alleged false representations from one Maple Gaines to Sony Music UK.

Gaines is said to have inked a related licensing deal with Sony Music UK in October 2019 – despite not owning the master, according to the suit. Consequently, “she was not authorized to enter into the agreement, and as she lacked the rights, the agreement was a nullity,” per the legal text.

Sony Music UK may not have known “that Gaines’s representations and warranties were false,” but “declined to distribute royalties [to Tuff City]…amounting to at least $47,500 as of 2023,” the suit states.

All told, Tuff City is suing Bakar, Sony Music UK, Black Butter, and Summer Walker publisher LVRN for copyright infringement, besides seeking an injunction as well as a declaratory judgement confirming that it’s “the owner of all rights in and to the” composition and the recording.

The plaintiff is also pursuing fraud claims against Resnik Music, its owner, and Gaines.