Salt-N-Pepa launched a lawsuit in federal courtroom to reclaim the rights to their most iconic recordings, however Common Music Group says the pioneering rap duo by no means owned these rights within the first place.
The authorized battle facilities on Salt-N-Pepa’s try to terminate UMG’s management over works like Scorching, Cool & Vicious and Very Vital, which embrace chart-toppers comparable to “Push It,” “Whatta Man,” and “Shoop,” amongst others.
The group served a termination discover to the label in Could 2022, claiming the Copyright Act permits them to regain possession after a sure variety of years.
Nevertheless, UMG rejected the submitting and responded with a movement to dismiss on July 17, 2025, stating that the group had no authorized standing.
UMG’s major level is that Salt-N-Pepa by no means straight signed away the rights themselves. As a substitute, contracts for these albums had been inked again in 1986 by producer Herby “Luv Bug” Azor by means of his manufacturing firm, Noise In The Attic.
UMG says that makes NITA the writer and copyright holder, not Salt-N-Pepa.
“As a result of plaintiffs, as alleged, didn’t grant rights within the recordings, they might not terminate any such grant,” attorneys for UMG argued in courtroom information. Below 17 U.S.C. § 203, solely the unique writer or the one who handed over the rights can terminate that settlement.
Even when Salt-N-Pepa had been someway capable of regain management of the unique recordings, UMG claims it could retain possession of remixes—particularly the closely licensed variations of smash hits like “Push It.”
The label notes that these are thought-about “spinoff works,” that are protected individually and completely underneath present contracts.
To make issues extra complicated, Salt-N-Pepa are additionally accusing UMG of “conversion,” a authorized time period for wrongfully taking or controlling somebody’s property.
Nevertheless, UMG argues that copyright regulation doesn’t allow such a declare in New York and contends that the Copyright Act supersedes it anyway.
UMG additionally urged the courtroom to pause all discovery within the case, stating that reviewing decades-old contracts, e mail chains, and paperwork is unnecessarily costly and untimely.
The label believes all the case needs to be dismissed with out going to trial.
A federal decide will resolve whether or not the lawsuit strikes ahead or is dismissed, in accordance with courtroom filings made on July 17, 2025.
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