A copyright infringement lawsuit against bosses at Sony over Shakira's 2010 album track 'Loca' has been tossed out of court by a New York judge after a key piece of evidence in the case was found to be fake.
US District Judge Alvin K Hellerstein ruled Sony/ATV Latin and Sony/ATV Discos executives were liable for copyright infringement last year, but on Monday he reversed his decision after losing faith in the plaintiff's testimony surrounding the date of a similar recording of the song.
The reversal came after Sony lawyers offered proof that the cassette songwriter Ramon Arias Vasquez had allegedly used to record his version of the song was not from 1998, as the defence had claimed. In fact it was from 2011, when Vasquez registered for copyright.
Making his new ruling in court, Judge Hellerstein said, "Here was a basic issue of fraud in the trial."
The original suit against Sony was filed in 2012 by publishers at Mayimba Music, who claimed 'Loca' was a copy of Vasquez's 'Loca con su Tiguere'.
Vasquez sang his song to Judge Hellerstein during the original trial.
'Loca', written by Dominican singer El Cata, appeared on Shakira's 2010 album Sale el Sol.
WENN.com
