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SAN FRANCISCO — A little over a month after suing a Spanish bootlegger accused of uploading 10 videos of Bad Bunny to YouTube from his Salt Lake City show, the reggaeton performer has dropped the suit.
Benito Antonio Martinez, Bad Bunny's real name, dropped the suit he had filed against Eric Guillermo Madroñal Garrone of Madrid, Spain, on Thursday. The Puerto Rican performer had filed the original lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on March 8.
The two-page filing noted that "the infringing videos" had been removed from YouTube and that "plaintiff understands that the videos will not be reinstated." Bad Bunny, though, dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning he could refile.
"Plaintiff reserves the right to refile this action if any one or more of the infringing videos are reinstated or otherwise reuploaded online in any capacity (including but not limited to YouTube, online websites, social media, etc.)," Thursday's court filing reads.
Bad Bunny kicked off his "Most Wanted Tour" at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Feb. 21. In the suit in March, he charged that Madroñal had subsequently posted videos of 10 songs from the Utah show and accused the Spanish man of copyright infringement and violating U.S. bootlegging statutes. The videos, the artist said, would lure YouTube viewers away from Bad Bunny's official YouTube page, impacting his ability to generate ad revenue.
Bad Bunny had sought damages of $150,000 per video, or $1.5 million, or Madroñal's YouTube profits from his postings.
Madroñal, who never formally responded to the suit, had initially defended his actions, describing himself as a cultural news gatherer who engaged in "disseminating musical culture" via his YouTube page. YouTube, nevertheless, removed the videos after Bad Bunny and his legal team sent the California company a "takedown notice." Madroñal challenged YouTube's decision, leading to the lawsuit.
