Chris Brown’s team has responded to a new filing in the copyright infringement lawsuit over Brown and Drake’s 2019 song “No Guidance.”
Back in February, Plaintiff Braindon Cooper claimed that the two artists were “both egotistical and without any legal basis whatsoever” to contend that they did not have “plausible” access to his 2016 song “I Love Your Dress,” which Cooper alleges Drake and Breezy ripped off to craft the hook for “No Guidance.”
“This is not a close call,” the new filing from James G. Sammataro, who is Brown’s lawyer, reads. “Posting a song on the Internet — such that the song is 1 out of 82 million songs on Spotify or posted by one of Instagram’s 1 billion users — and a one-time public performance do not constitute widespread dissemination as a matter of law.”
Sammataro went on to reject Cooper’s claim that he sent his song to Canadian A&R Mic Tee in March 2019, and that the A&R then “suggested” that they meet “in Toronto.”
“Plaintiffs’ allegation that Mic Tee suggested that Cooper travel to Toronto, Drake’s ‘original hometown,’ is insufficient to permit an inference of access. By plaintiffs’ own account, Drake has resided in California since 2014. In any event, there is no allegation that Cooper went to Toronto, and it is implausible to assume that every musician in Toronto collaborates and shares music with Drake,” the filing reads.
The new filing also asked for the suit to be dismissed “in its entirety with prejudice.” As of March 22, Drake has joined the motion to dismiss the case. “Mr. Grahamm–a co-author of the musical composition embodied in the sound recording “No Guidance”–hereby incorporates and restates all of the arguments raised in the Moving Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss in full, including the requests for relief therein,” reads the latest legal docs on the lawsuit.
The duo previously requested for the lawsuit to be dismissed on the grounds that Cooper’s track is “obscure” and that Drake and Brown were unaware of it before writing “No Guidance.” Said dismissal request has yet to be ruled on.
The Drake-featuring “No Guidance” was included on Chris Brown’s Indigo album and peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. The track was also nominated for Best R&B Song at the Grammys.
