Salt-N-Pepa launched a lawsuit in federal court docket to reclaim the rights to their most iconic recordings, however Common Music Group says the pioneering rap duo by no means owned these rights within the first place.

The authorized struggle facilities on Salt-N-Pepa’s try to terminate UMG’s management over works like Sizzling, Cool & Vicious and Very Mandatory, which embrace chart-toppers equivalent to “Push It,” “Whatta Man,” and “Shoop,” amongst others.

The group served a termination discover to the label in Could 2022, claiming the Copyright Act permits them to regain possession after a sure variety of years.

Nevertheless, UMG rejected the submitting and responded with a movement to dismiss on July 17, 2025, stating that the group had no authorized standing.

UMG’s most important level is that Salt-N-Pepa by no means immediately signed away the rights themselves. As an alternative, contracts for these albums had been inked again in 1986 by producer Herby “Luv Bug” Azor by way of his manufacturing firm, Noise In The Attic.

UMG says that makes NITA the writer and copyright holder, not Salt-N-Pepa.

“As a result of plaintiffs, as alleged, didn’t grant rights within the recordings, they might not terminate any such grant,” attorneys for UMG argued in court docket information. Below 17 U.S.C. § 203, solely the unique writer or the one that handed over the rights can terminate that settlement.

Even when Salt-N-Pepa had been one way or the other capable of regain management of the unique recordings, UMG claims it will retain possession of remixes—particularly the closely licensed variations of smash hits like “Push It.”

The label notes that these are thought of “spinoff works,” that are protected individually and completely underneath present contracts.

To make issues extra complicated, Salt-N-Pepa are additionally accusing UMG of “conversion,” a authorized time period for wrongfully taking or controlling somebody’s property.

Nevertheless, UMG argues that copyright legislation doesn’t allow such a declare in New York and contends that the Copyright Act supersedes it anyway.

UMG additionally urged the court docket to pause all discovery within the case, stating that reviewing decades-old contracts, e mail chains, and paperwork is unnecessarily costly and untimely.

The label believes your entire case must be dismissed with out going to trial.

A federal decide will resolve whether or not the lawsuit strikes ahead or is dismissed, based on court docket filings made on July 17, 2025.

Associated