A Federal Ruling on Reggaeton Rhythm
Bad Bunny and a long list of prominent Latin music stars secured a major court victory on September 2, 2026, when a federal judge threw out a copyright claim centered on the dembow rhythm. This specific beat is the defining sound of modern reggaeton, characterized by its distinctive boom-ch-boom-chick pattern. For years, the music industry faced uncertainty as Jamaican producer Cleveland “Clevie” Browne and the estate of Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson pushed a legal theory that would have effectively granted them control over this foundational sound.
Judge André Birotte Jr. issued the ruling in a California courtroom. The decision reverses an earlier preliminary finding from July, where the court suggested that a jury might need to determine whether the rhythmic arrangement held copyright protection. The reversal is a direct result of a motion filed by attorneys representing Bad Bunny. They argued that the plaintiffs were attempting to construct a copyright from mismatched fragments of three separate recordings rather than identifying a single, cohesive work.
The Legal Arguments Against Frankenstein Copyrights
During the proceedings, the defense challenged the logic of the plaintiffs’ claim. Bad Bunny attorney Kenneth Freundlich explained the core issue to Billboard, stating, “You cannot copyright a rhythm by reverse-engineering it from three different songs once you’re already in court.” The judge agreed with this assessment, finding that the alleged protected arrangement simply does not exist as a singular, unified work protected by law. This finding effectively gut-punches the plaintiffs' strategy to claim ownership over the beat itself.
This lawsuit began in 2021 and targeted a wide range of industry names. The list of more than 150 defendants included major acts like Daddy Yankee, Karol G, J Balvin, Luis Fonsi, and Drake. Had the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, the legal precedent could have forced thousands of reggaeton tracks into a licensing arrangement with Steely & Clevie. That would have changed how producers and labels approach the genre indefinitely.
Future Implications for Music Litigation
While this specific ruling removes a massive threat to the industry, the lawsuit is not entirely finished. The judge left narrow claims regarding the direct sampling of original Steely & Clevie recordings intact. These individual cases will proceed, but they lack the scope of the original overarching demand for ownership of the dembow beat. The distinction between sampling a specific recording and utilizing a common rhythm remains a critical line in copyright litigation.
Industry observers note that this result prevents a scenario where a few individuals could monopolize a genre’s foundational sonic language. For now, artists and producers can continue using the dembow beat without facing a blanket copyright strike. Still, the outcome serves as a reminder that legal challenges involving fundamental musical building blocks remain highly volatile. The focus now shifts to the remaining sampling claims as the music industry breathes a sigh of relief.