Quavo performing live. Photo Credit: Jørund Føreland Pedersen
26 months after filing his “Bubblegum” copyright infringement lawsuit, Louisiana-based artist L.Mont (real name Lamount London) has reached a settlement in principle with Universal Music and Warner Chappell.
Technically, the straightforward legal battle was on hold for much of that stretch. As of this past August, the defendants hadn’t formally answered the suit, and the presiding judge therefore instructed L.Mont to demonstrate why the “action should not be dismissed for lack of prosecution.”
Apparently, that order got the ball rolling; an amended complaint materialized in mid-September, and the litigants just recently confirmed the settlement. Unfortunately for us, the concise filing at hand doesn’t shed any light whatsoever on the terms behind the resolution.
(A point worth emphasizing here: Quavo, who released “Bubble Gum” in 2018, isn’t directly mentioned in the settlement document and seemingly remains a party to the suit.)
But according to the brief order, the plaintiff, Universal Music, and Warner Chappell moved to dismiss “with the expectation that the settlement will be consummated within forty” days. Of course, it’ll be worth keeping an eye out for the corresponding notification and updates concerning the status of the claims against Quavo.
Per the months-old amended suit, L.Mont both wrote and recorded “Bubblegum” and, during an afterparty in New Orleans in 2016, “handed a demo CD” to Quavo (real name Quavious Marshall) “with the hope that the two would be able to work together on music in the future.”