Bad Bunny’s lawyers say an African music publisher should cover their fees after dragging the Puerto Rican superstar into failed copyright litigation over a track on his chart-topping album Un Verano Sin Ti.
emPawa Africa, an independent music company that has a deal with Nigerian songwriter Dera, sued Bad Bunny last year for allegedly failing to ask their permission before sampling his 2019 song “Empty My Pocket” on “Enséñame a Bailar,” which spent two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2022. Bad Bunny maintains that he properly cleared the sample with another rightsholder on “Empty My Pocket,” the producer Lakizo.
The attorneys repping emPawa dropped out of the lawsuit at the end of 2025 due to “irreconcilable differences,” ultimately leading a judge to dismiss the case for lack of prosecution earlier this month. Now, Bad Bunny and various co-defendants in the case, including Rimas Entertainment and The Orchard, argue that emPawa should have to foot the $465,612 legal bill they racked up defending against the “frivolous” claims.
“This case was meritless from the beginning and should never have been brought,” reads the Monday (March 23) motion for legal fees. “Instead, emPawa filed and aggressively litigated it, apparently hoping that Bad Bunny’s wealth, prominence and desire to avoid attorneys’ fees and bad publicity would enable emPawa to extract an undeserved, multimillion-dollar settlement.”
Bad Bunny’s lawyers say emPawa dragged out the case even though it was clear from the beginning that the “Enséñame a Bailar” sample was properly licensed from Lakizo. emPawa allegedly used various tactics to “stall and delay” the litigation, then bowed out when it came time to hand over evidence through the discovery process.
“When faced with an imminent court order that would require it to explain how it owned ‘Empty’ and Lakizo did not, Empawa chose instead to abandon its claims altogether,” reads Monday’s motion. “That it did not find a replacement counsel to prosecute its claims after its original counsel withdrew speaks volumes.”
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According to the motion, this conduct forced heavy-hitting music lawyer Jeff Goldman and a team of attorneys from Florida firm Gray Robinson to rack up hundreds of hours on Bad Bunny’s defense. The three senior lawyers on the case billed hourly rates of $555, $615 and $680.
Reps for emPawa did not immediately return a request for comment on the fee request. Notably, Bad Bunny is seeking fees only from the publishing company and not from Dera himself, even though the songwriter was a plaintiff in the case, too. A footnote explains this decision: “It is moving defendants’ belief that this co-plaintiff, Ezeani Chidera Godfrey p/k/a Dera, was not primarily responsible for the prosecution of the lawsuit, nor did he finance the lawsuit.”
Under U.S. law, the winners of copyright litigation can get their legal fees covered by the losers if they can show that the claims were frivolous or unreasonably handled. This is designed to deter unscrupulous actors from abusing the court system with meritless lawsuits.
Musical artists who prevail over copyright accusers frequently turn to this remedy in the aftermath. Mariah Carey, for example, is currently seeking $1 million after defeating a copyright infringement lawsuit over her holiday classic “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Nelly, too, recently demanded that the lawyer repping one of his former bandmates reimburse him $78,000 for litigation over the rights to his debut album Country Grammar.
