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SAN FRANCISCO — Bad Bunny's performance last month in Salt Lake City is now at the center of a federal court case.
The reggaeton performer, whose actual name is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, is suing a Spanish YouTube channel operator, accusing him of illegally posting bootlegged videos of 10 songs the artist performed in Utah to YouTube. Martinez Ocasio accuses Eric Guillermo Madroñal Garrone, of Madrid, Spain, of copyright infringement and violating U.S. bootlegging statutes in the suit filed March 8 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
Each of the videos from the show "negatively impacts the market for authorized uses of the Bad Bunny works by, among other things, luring YouTube viewers and associated advertising revenue away from authorized videos of the Bad Bunny works and the official Bad Bunny YouTube channel," reads the lawsuit. The Salt Lake City show, held at the Delta Center, was the kick-off performance for Bad Bunny's Most Wanted Tour, which ends May 26 in Miami.
Bad Bunny seeks damages of $150,000 per video, $1.5 million, or damages and Madroñal's profits from the YouTube postings. He also seeks a permanent injunction preventing Madroñal and his associates from posting Bad Bunny videos.
Madroñal has not yet responded in court, but in a message to YouTube that preceded the filing of the court action, he defended his actions. The 10 videos have been removed from the man's YouTube page, MADforliveMUSIC, but he maintains he was within his rights in posting them and asks YouTube to reinstate them.
In his message to YouTube corporate officials, included in the court filing, Madroñal describes himself as a cultural news gatherer. The purpose of his YouTube page, he said, is "disseminating musical culture" and covering the start of world music tours.
The Salt Lake City show, being the first performance of Bad Bunny's Most Wanted Tour, makes it "a newsworthy event of high public interest," Madroñal wrote. He went on, saying the Puerto Rican rapper benefits from his videos "as his show is carefully captured, conveying the reality of the moment without alterations or post-production in the content."
Bad Bunny and his legal team sent YouTube a "takedown notice," demanding removal of the 10 videos in question. YouTube removed them, but Madroñal then challenged YouTube's decision and asked they be put back up. YouTube advised Bad Bunny's representatives the videos would be reposted unless the musician sued, which led to the lawsuit.
The videos Madroñal allegedly uploaded to YouTube showed Bad Bunny performing 10 full songs — "La Santa," "Gracias Por Nada," "You Perreo Sola," "Me Porto Bonito," "Dakiti," "Un X100to," "La Jumpa," "No Me Quiero Casar," "Safaera" and "Efecto."
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco because the court has jurisdiction over San Mateo County, in California, where YouTube is headquartered.
