Lyor Cohen And Def Jam Found Liable

On Friday (March 21), an 8 person jury in Manhattan federal court found Lyor Cohen, the Chairman of Island/Def Jam Music Group personally liable for fraud, willful copyright infringement, and wrongful interference with contract. The verdict stemmed from a lawsuit filed by TVT Records over an album by Cash Money Cliq. TVT claimed that Cohen […]

On Friday (March 21), an 8 person jury in Manhattan

federal court found Lyor Cohen, the Chairman of Island/Def Jam Music Group personally

liable for fraud, willful copyright infringement, and wrongful interference

with contract.

The verdict stemmed from a lawsuit filed by TVT

Records over an album by Cash Money Cliq.

TVT claimed that Cohen told Gotti he didn’t have

permission to deliver the album to TVT and is seeking $30 million in damages.

"The verdict against Mr. Cohen, personally,

for fraud shows that there are some very serious problems confronting Def Jam

and Universal Music Group," said Peter Haviland, trial lawyer for TVT Records.

Kevin Liles, Vice President of The Island Def

Jam Music Group, testified at trial earlier in the month that he witnessed Cohen

tell Gotti "No f*cking way, we are not doing this project" around

August of last year, just before TVT was going to release the album.

The jury unanimously found both Def Jam and Lyor

Cohen personally liable for interference with TVT’s contract.

Cohen was also found personally liable, along

with Def Jam, for willful copyright infringement related to Def Jam’s distribution

of TVT’s copyrighted recording "Get tha Fortune" which appeared on

a DVD entitled "Irv Gotti Presents: The Inc." released in July 2002.

Cohen was also found liable for willful copyright

infringement related to the recording "The Rain," which Mr. Gotti

had made for TVT to be released on the CMC album but instead appeared on the

Def Jam release of the CD version of Irv Gotti Presents: The Inc.

Cohen denied knowledge that Gotti had been working

on the CMC project, despite the fact that the multi-platinum selling album of

Ashanti, released in April 2002 included in its artwork reference to the CMC

album.

The artwork for the Def Jam-distributed CD Irv

Gotti Presents: The Inc mentioned the album and advertisements also ran in hip-hop

publications featuring Ja-Rule.

The same jury which found Cohen and Def Jam liable

will determine damages on April 28.

Def Jam lawyer Charles Ortner said he will appeal

the verdict on the grounds that Judge Victor Marrero refused key evidence to

be presented to jurors.