{"id":1307,"date":"2026-01-09T06:55:36","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T06:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/?p=1307"},"modified":"2026-01-09T06:55:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T06:55:36","slug":"salt-n-pepas-copyright-lawsuit-against-universal-music-rejected-by-judge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/salt-n-pepas-copyright-lawsuit-against-universal-music-rejected-by-judge\/","title":{"rendered":"Salt-N-Pepa\u2019s Copyright Lawsuit Against Universal Music Rejected by Judge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Salt-N-Pepa have hit a sour note in their long-running legal fight to reclaim ownership of their music. The legendary Hip-Hop ensemble, comprised of Cheryl \u201cSalt\u201d James, Sandra \u201cPepa\u201d Denton<\/strong>, and Deidra \u201cSpinderella\u201d Roper,<\/strong> had accused Universal Music Group<\/strong> of unlawfully blocking them from regaining control of their master recordings decades after release. Central to their claim were contractual terms they claim were unjust.<\/p>\n

However, a federal judge has ruled against them.<\/p>\n

Yesterday \u00a0(January 8), a US District Court judge in New York has officially dismissed the lawsuit, siding with UMG after the label argued the claims failed to meet legal standards under the Copyright Act.<\/div>\n
As a result, the ruling essentially ends the case in its current form.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued following the decision, UMG did not hold back:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cWhile we are gratified that the court dismissed this baseless lawsuit, it should never have been brought in the first place.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The music juggernaut added that it had previously attempted to resolve the dispute privately and improve compensation for James and Denton (who are the members who brought the suit). They stressed that they did this despite having no legal obligation to do so.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been no word from the group in the immediate aftermath of the decision, but it\u2019ll no doubt sting.<\/div>\n

Upon their initial filing, reps framed the battle as one rooted in artist legacy and fairness. A sentiment the ladies echoed when they accepted their entry into the rock and roll hall of fame last Fall.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Despite the drama (which has seen Salt-N-Pepa\u2019s music removed from streamers), UMG insists that it\u2019s open to working together. Their statement concluded:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cEven with the court\u2019s complete rejection of their claims, we remain open and willing to find a resolution to the matter and turn the page so we can focus our efforts on working together to amplify Salt-N-Pepa\u2019s legacy for generations to come. \u201c<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Salt-N-Pepa have hit a sour note in their long-running legal fight to reclaim ownership of their music. The legendary Hip-Hop ensemble, comprised of Cheryl \u201cSalt\u201d James, Sandra \u201cPepa\u201d Denton, and Deidra \u201cSpinderella\u201d Roper, had accused Universal Music Group of unlawfully blocking them from regaining control of their master recordings decades after release. Central to their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[160],"class_list":["post-1307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","author-urbanafrica"],"authors":[{"term_id":160,"user_id":2,"is_guest":0,"slug":"urbanafrica","display_name":"URBANAFRICA","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cropped-FFB50F59-0D6C-491C-BACA-64123F72D056.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cropped-FFB50F59-0D6C-491C-BACA-64123F72D056.jpg"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1307"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1309,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions\/1309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1307"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}