Dr Dre Sues Death Row Records

Dr Dre is set to sue Death Row after filing a lawsuit in bankruptcy court against the label about ownership of the rights to his 1992 album ‘The Chronic’.

Dre, real name Andre Young, says in the papers that he owns the rights and that he disagrees with Death Row requesting a court-appointed bankruptcy administrator to sell the rights.

The lawsuit was filed last Wednesday in Los Angeles and states that although Dre was the creator and producer of the master recordings in 1996 he agreed to relinquish 50 per cent of ownership to Death Row.

In the same agreement he also agreed to hand over copyrights to the album as long as royalties were still paid.

The suit alleges that Death Row have failed to pay any royalties and as a result in 2000 Dre gave them notice that he was rescinding the previous agreement was demanding ownership of the copyright.

It father asserts that Dre is the rightful owner of the copyright and that Death Row and the Chapter 11 trustee administering the bankruptcy case have infringed his rights by continuing to sell the album without his authorization.

It also states that the rapper believes the two parties have been trying to sell the copyright in the past month.

Dre is asking the court to declare that the past agreements between himself and Death Row are rescinded and that he owns the copyright.

He is also asking that Death Row pay him restitution for the money they’ve made form the use of the copyright.