Lawsuit Against WWE & John Cena Dropped; Details

Lawsuit Against WWE & John Cena Dropped; Details

Posted by Shawn Moniz on December 18th, 2008 No Comments Printer-Friendly

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Attorneys for Jamal Grinnage and Eric Murray, two members of the hip hop act The M.O.P. informed the United States district court today that they were voluntarily dismissing their lawsuit against World Wrestling Entertainment, John Cena, Sony Music, Stephanie Music and several other entities.

The M.O.P members were upset that a sample of their song “Ante Up” was used in the “My Time is Now” (John Cena’s theme) track on Cena’s hip hop CD from a few years back and later used for Cena’s entrance theme on DVD’s, CDs, PPV and ring tones.

The lawsuit alleged that they had turned down World Wrestling Entertainment’s request to sample the song and then someone working for Next Level Publishing, a company owned by the third member of M.O.P., Darryl Pittman, later gave clearance for sampling. The lawsuit alleged that the person in question (who identified himself as President of Next Level) was actually just an office worker who had no rights to give World Wrestling Entertainment clearance to use the sampling.

Grinnage & Murray had filed the law suit last October, requesting damages, that they be ruled owners of the song in question, and that all DVD’s, CD’s, etc.. using the sampled music be recalled and destroyed on the grounds that as 69.9% of the owners of the original “Ante Up” sing, it couldn’t be licensed without their approval.

There is no indication at this time why the law suit was dropped and there was no mention of a settlement agreement between the two sides in any court documents before the Judge closed the case.

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