Steely & Clevie v. Daddy Yankee and others — the dembow copyright case (2021– )

The case that asks whether a riddim can be owned. Cleveland "Clevie" Browne and the heirs of Wycliffe "Steely" Johnson sued in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 2021, claiming that the rhythm of their 1989 track "Fish Market" -- by way of Shabba Ranks's "Dem Bow" and Dennis Halliburton's "Pounder (Dub Mix II)" -- is the source of the dembow pattern under reggaeton, and that it has been copied without credit or payment in an estimated 1,800 to 2,000 recordings by well over a hundred artists, labels, publishers and distributors.

Named recordings include "Gasolina" and "Despacito"; named parties have included Daddy Yankee, Luis Fonsi, Bad Bunny, J Balvin, Karol G, Wisin & Yandel, Don Omar, Rauw Alejandro, Pitbull, Drake and Justin Bieber. In May 2024 Judge André Birotte Jr. declined to dismiss the core of it, holding that the drum pattern could qualify for protection and that copying material derived from protected elements can infringe whether or not the defendant copied directly.

On 6 July 2026 he denied summary judgment to both sides, finding "competing, facially credible expert opinions" on whether the elements form a protectable arrangement and sending the question of originality, access and copying to a jury. Bad Bunny's lawyers then moved for reconsideration -- their argument being that the plaintiffs have assembled a composite rhythm from seven elements spread across three different records, no one of which contains all seven. That motion was argued in Los Angeles in August 2026, with the judge saying he would need several weeks to decide.