‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli can be charged due to wu-tang clan album Copies, Judge Rules

A federal judge ruled on Thursday that “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli can be charged due to alleged copy and distribution of Wu-Tang Clan’s unique album “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” with a partial victory that has the exclusive recording.

Judge Pamela Chen of the American district allowed Pleasrdao to continue with Trade Secrets Maintenance and claims of real estate against the former pharmaceutical director in one Decision of 32 pagesWhile rejecting other allegations in the field of preferred grounds of copyright.

The Legrddao lawsuit claims that Shkreli has retained digital copies of the album after it was forfeited in 2018 to partially satisfy a judgment of $ 7.36 million of his conviction for securities fraud, and then repeatedly played tracks for online audience and offered to distribute files to users of social media.

They won one temporary restrictive command In June last year, who immediately forbade Shkreli to use, distribute or stream the album.

Judge Chen wrote on Thursday that Shkreli “Retail and distributed copies of the album” of the album “preserved and distributed. The ruling enables Pleasrdao to still have compensation, profit and return of all the copies that Shkreli possesses still possession.

Ishita Sharma, Managing Partner at Fathom Legal, said Decrypt The ruling is “remarkable because the court dealt with a non-detailed hip-hop album as a potential trade secret that is usually reserved for recipes or business know-how.”

Sharma also said that the statement also indicated that cultural assets that are built on “confidentiality and exclusivity” can find protection under trade secrets and cut off claims that overlap with copyright, while reminding Daos that they are in “Uncharted, but very real legal territory”.

Wu-Tang Clan recorded the 31-track album between 2007 and 2013 as “a protest for what they saw as the devaluation of music in the digital age”, and only produced one physical copy, accompanied by a leather manuscript of 174 pages with texts and production motions.

The original purchase agreement from 2015 Shkreli gave 50% of copyright But tied him to 88-year-old user restrictions.

After the conviction of Shkreli, the court assumed a forfeiture statement that obliges him to surrender the album and to break him from “taking some action that would have the effect of reducing, damaging and/or dissipating” of the active or actions that would affect “the availability, salability or value”.

The US Marsals Service sold the album In July 2021 for more than $ 2 million. Pleasrdao has acquired the physical property And exclusive playback rights and then bought the copyright in January 2024 for around $ 750,000.

Pleaser charged in June 2024 After Shkreli is said to have been admitted in live streams to copy and play the album for followers. When a Pleasrdao member posted a photo of the album on X, Shkreli replied: “Lol I have the MP3s that you idiot,” according to the court case.

Shkreli a motion submitted To dismiss in January, WU-Tang members Robert “RZA” Diggs and producer Tarik “Cilvaringz” Azzougarh must be accompanied as parties, because they “keep an interest in ownership in copyright”.