It was filed on Friday, June 18 in New York after Dash announced plans to work with NFT platform SuperFarm to auction off his share of Reasonable Doubt. Since each co-founder owns a ⅓ share in the company, Rock-A-Fella’s lawsuit claims that Dash’s “status a minority shareholder in RAF, Inc., gives him no right to sell a company asset” such as Reasonable Doubt. The label, which was co-founded by Dash, Kareem ‘Biggs’ Burke and Shawn Carter (Jay-Z) in 1994, claims ownership of all exclusive rights to Reasonable Doubt, including the rights to sell, record the music, reproduce it, broadcast or digitally transmit it, exhibit it publicly, distribute it, advertise it and exploit it. The lawsuit alleges that Dash “is currently frantically scouting for another venue to make the sale,” and Dash has released a statement to Music Business Worldwide in which he claims he has the right to do so. Roc-A-Fella won’t have to put up a bond, but it will have to continue to fight as the parties will next debate whether the TRO becomes a preliminary injunction.Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Damon Dash is still attempting to sell his share of Jay-Z’s 1996 debut album Reasonable Doubt as an NFT in spite of a lawsuit from Roc-A-Fella Records that claims that the record label owns the album, not Dash. Specifically, the judge said the label was likely to prevail on claims of breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, and unjust enrichment. Salinger stopped an unauthorized sequel to “Catcher in the Rye.” He also nodded as precedent to the case where J.D. He pointed to Jay-Z’s declaration that Roc-A-Fella owned copyright. Dash’s side has also commented about the dispute in the media where they said they really wanted to sell shares in Roc-A-Fella.Ĭronan said Jay-Z’s record label was likely to prevail on merits. Alex Spiro, representing the record company, answered, “A lot of it has to do with the uniqueness added to the unique industry.”ĭash and his lawyers didn’t show up for hearing, but Spiro said they were served papers and had previously responded to a cease and desist. District Court Judge John Cronan asked why monetary damages wouldn’t suffice. The label was concerned Dash might still pursue a sale, so it asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order.ĭuring a Tuesday morning hearing, U.S. This marks a new milestone in the history of NFT’s, entitling the new owner to future revenue generated by the unique asset.”Īcademy Museum to Raise Funds Through Sale of Pillar Award NFTsĪn auction had been set for June 23-25, according to the complaint, but it was cancelled after Roc-A-Fella sent a warning letter to SuperFarm. While Dash has disputed that he was trying to sell rights in the album, according to the complaint, investor platform SuperFarm made this announcement: “SuperFarm is proud to announce, in collaboration with Damon Dash, the auction of Damon‘s ownership of the copyright to Jay-Z’s first album Reasonable Doubt. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are effectively digital data that represents tangible items. The label sued its co-founder Damon Dash on June 18, alleging he was trying to sell virtual ownership of the “Reasonable Doubt” copyrights. Roc-A-Fella Records has convinced a New York federal judge Jay-Z’s first album shouldn’t be sold as an NFT, at least for the time being.