Looks like someone decided to defy the "defiant ones." A trial has reportedly commenced at the Los Angeles Supreme Court Friday involving unpaid royalties from Dr. Dre, Jimmy Iovine, and Beats Headphones. Entrepreneur Steven Lamar is claiming that he is owed $100 million in royalties from the company.
Lamar claims it was him who proposed a line of celebrity-endorsed headphones to Dr. Dre & Iovine in 2006 that was based on a design by acclaimed industrial designer Robert Brunner.
Apparently, the trio was not able to reach an agreement in the beginning stages, so Dre and Iovine sued Lamar for breaching the contract. This previous lawsuit led to a settlement where Lamar relinquished all rights in exchange for a four percent royalty on every headphone sold by Monster and its affiliates.
After the settlement, Beats released new headphone models and began paying a two percent royalty to Brunner until sometime in 2014 when Beats bought out Brunner's interest. Dre and Iovine would later sell Beats to Apple for $3 billion.
The case rests upon whether Lamar is due royalties for the later modified versions of Beats headphones or whether the defendants fulfilled their obligations by merely paying him for the original headphone model.
Source: hotnewhiphop.com
