US Judge Rules Reggaeton Dembow Rhythm Cannot Be Copyrighted

A United States federal judge has dismissed a major copyright lawsuit that sought to establish legal ownership over the dembow rhythm, a fundamental beat used in reggaeton. Judge André Birotte Jr. ruled that the plaintiffs, Jamaican producer duo Steely and Clevie and the heirs of Wycliffe Johnson, failed to clearly identify a single copyrighted work that contained the specific combination of musical elements they claimed to own. The decision protects more than 150 artists and nearly 2,000 songs, including works by Bad Bunny, Karol G, Daddy Yankee, Drake, Pitbull, Luis Fonsi, and Justin Bieber.

The lawsuit, filed in 2021, alleged that the 1989 recording Fish Market was the definitive source of the dembow rhythm. However, lawyers for Bad Bunny argued that the plaintiffs had created a Frankenstein by combining elements from three different recordings to fabricate a legally protectable rhythm. The judge agreed, stating that US copyright law does not apply to an abstract amalgam of elements extracted from multiple independent works.

While the core claim regarding the rhythm itself was rejected, the legal process is not entirely over. Narrower claims involving the direct sampling of specific Steely and Clevie recordings may still proceed. The ruling prevents a legal monopoly over a basic building block of the reggaeton genre, which could have had severe consequences for the music industry.