Lady Gaga Fires Back At Former Producer’s Lawsuit
News broke this past week that Lady Gaga was being sued for $30.5 million by her former producer and ex-boyfriend Rob Fusari. Fusari claimed that Gaga was his protege and former girlfriend and she ditched him as her career took off. He stated in the lawsuit that they co-wrote songs such as “Paparazzi” and “Beautiful, Dirty, Rich.” Fusari also said he came up with her stage name and helped get her record deal.
According to the lawsuit, Lady Gaga and Fusari’s relationship turned romantic and then became a business partnership in May 2006, when they created a joint venture called Team Love Child LLC to promote her career. Fusari’s share was 20 percent.
Lady Gaga and her lawyer, Charles Ortner, are firing back. In their response, Ortner wrote that the deal was “structured in such a way as to mask its true purpose — to provide to the defendants unlawful compensation for their services as unlicensed employment agents.”
Ortner also wrote that Fusari and his company violated statutes that prohibited them from “acting as employment agents without a license and charging Lady Gaga an unlawful fee for their purported services.”
Fusari’s lawyer, Robert S. Meloni, called the claim “ludicrous” in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
“Fusari is a PARTNER in the Team Love LLC with Gag and her father (through their company Mermaid),” Meloni wrote. “Rob was no more of an ‘agent’ for her than she is a Roman Catholic nun.”
So what do you guys think? Does Fusari deserve a piece of Gaga’s pie?
pwillis on Wed, 24th Mar 2010 12:19 am
Romantic involvement should have no role regarding this situation if in fact there is a valid contract between the two parties. Song-writing however, is a different can of worms and should be dealt with separately with each writer managing their own cuts of the publishing and receiving compensation from their respective agencies i.e.: BMI or ASCAP. Sub publishing deals, or deals which have been assigned to publishing companies who administer mechanical royalties is a different story. If Lady GaGa has made deals with outside companies in which she’s unlawfully signed away Fusari’s publishing rights, there would be a big problem, especially if she’s collecting those royalties and not paying them out.
As far as the managerial aspects of their relationship are concerned, this needs to be clearly defined within a production or management contract. If in the heat of the moment, Fusari indeed came up with the “Lady GaGa” name, so what? It becomes a matter of morality and ethical practices on GaGa’s part but there is no way that he can expect to be compensated legally for an idea.
Sounds more like a “lover’s scorn” story based upon resentment and jealousy. Who knows the other side of the story? Maybe the guy’s a complete asshole. Maybe she’s a complete bitch but at this point in time, GaGa’s in the drivers seat and that’s all that matters unless there’s a binding contract which states differently.
GaGa’s a star. A real talent. Let’s hope that if it’s something that she is indebted for, that she’ll pay up otherwise, don’t mix business with pleasure and if you can’t help it, get an excellent attorney to back you up along the way!
Frank on Wed, 24th Mar 2010 2:27 am
Actually ideas can be protected and have dollar values in terms of their potential, that’s what this country is based on, originality and invention. This is a big deal, if “Lady GaGa” asserts authorship of something she didn’t do 100% the co-author deserves a share valued at their participation. If he made the name then he is entitled to a share of revenues based off the name/brand. Think about it, if a band member came up with a name he has right to it even if the rest of the band play the songs on their own.
Freddy Gipson on Wed, 24th Mar 2010 9:33 am
He already ate out that pie apparently.