Bad Bunny's team can now move forward with their career unimpeded — the legal cloud over 'Un Verano Sin Ti' has been decisively removed, and the record shows the sample was properly cleared through the correct channels.
This case imploded from the inside. The producer's own legal team bailed on him in January over 'irreparable differences,' his label got dismissed for missing deadlines too, and he couldn't even show up to a discovery hearing. The real tea: this was about more than just the sample — Lakizo and emPawa Africa were fighting their own legal war that caused the track to disappear from streaming services entirely.
Judge Otis Wright dismissed the case on March 9, 2026 after Dera missed a March 6 filing deadline and failed to appear at the February 5 discovery hearing. The lawsuit was originally filed in May 2025, and Dera's lawyers withdrew from the case in January 2026.
Bad Bunny wins, but let's be real — this wasn't a courtroom victory so much as a case that collapsed under its own weight. The producer's team fell apart, deadlines were missed, and now the reggaeton superstar gets to walk away clean. That's how you win a copyright fight: let the other side self-destruct.
Bad Bunny has officially prevailed in the copyright battle over "Enséñame a Bailar" — and it wasn't even close. A federal judge dismissed the case on Monday (March 9) after Nigerian producer Dera (Ezeani Chidera Godfrey) essentially vanished from the proceedings, missing critical deadlines and failing to show up to his own hearings. The case is dead, and the reggaeton superstar walks away victorious.
The lawsuit was originally filed last May by Dera, who claimed Bad Bunny's track from the blockbuster album Un Verano Sin Ti illegally sampled his 2019 production "Empty My Pocket" — a song he created for artist Joeboy. But as the case progressed, everything fell apart for the plaintiff. Dera missed a crucial March 6 filing deadline to continue the case, and he'd already skipped a February 5 discovery hearing. On top of that, his own lawyers abandoned him in January, citing "irreparable differences" over legal strategy. His label, emPawa Africa, was also dismissed from the case last month for missing its own deadlines.
U.S. District Judge Otis Wright didn't mince words in the dismissal order, noting that letting the case continue "would prejudice defendants and would be against the public interest." The court concluded Dera had abandoned the case entirely — a stunning outcome for what started as a serious copyright infringement claim worth potentially millions.
The backstory here is messier than the final judgment suggests. The dispute actually dates back to 2023, when Mr. Eazi — founder of emPawa Africa — first publicly accused Bad Bunny of copying "Empty My Pocket," claiming the superstar's team had "stonewalled" efforts to secure proper credit. Bad Bunny's camp maintained they obtained clearance through Lakizo Entertainment, the song's distributor. But Dera's team argued Lakizo wasn't authorized to clear the sample — and those two labels ended up in their own legal spat that actually caused "Empty My Pocket" to disappear from streaming platforms entirely. Now that's a lot of chaos for one sample.
Lawyers for both sides declined to comment, but the message is clear: when you come for the king, you'd better not miss your filing deadlines.
