RAPPER ORDERED BY JUDGE TO PAY SONY $800,000 OVER UNLICENCED SAMPLE

Trefuego ruled by judge to have infringed Sony’s copyright by using sample from their catalogue on a track

Judge ordered Trefuego to pay more than $800,000 to Sony

Case had bizarre turn after it proved difficult to find Trefuego in real life

Rapper Trefuego has been ordered by a federal judge to pay Sony more than $800,000 in damages for using a sample of music they owned the copyright to without permission.

Trefuego – real name Dantreal Daevon Clark-Rainbolt – was sued by Sony in 2021, contending that he had used a “blatant” sample of a Japanese instrumental track ‘Reflections’ by Toshifumi Hinata on his track ‘90mh’.

The track had been featured in 155,000 TikTok videos and streamed 100 million times on Spotify.

District judge Mark T. Pittman had ruled last year that Trefuego had infringed Sony’s copyright by sampling the track. But in a follow-up ruling the judge made the order for Trefuego to pay Sony $802,997, which covers the $700,000 he earned in profit from the track across various platforms, and $100,000 that he would have to pay Sony in licencing fees.

In addition, Trefuego must pay ongoing royalties, including 50% of publishing revenue and 20% of recording revenue to Sony, as well as $2,230 in legal costs.

In his decision, judge Pittman said he hoped this would be a lesson to Trefuego to carefully select the material included in raps.

Sony first launched their legal action in December 2022, having been chasing Trefuego since early 2021. The case turned odd in 2023 when it proved difficult for Sony to locate the rapper in real life to serve papers to him – even going as far as hiring a private investigator. As a result, judge Pittman said Sony could send him direct messages on social media, rather than the more traditional routes of contact.