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Beats Electronics co-founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine were struck Wednesday by a $ 25 million verdict in favor of a former partner, Steven Lamar, in a Los Angeles Superior Court, according to Hollywood Reporter reports and other media. In a lawsuit in 2016, Lamar and Jibe Audio claimed $ 100 million, alleging a breach of royalties for the original headphone design.
A jury of L.A. awarded Lamar $ 25,247,350 after ruling that Dre and Iovine had not compensated him for the design work he had done on three models of helmets; the pair had previously argued that it only owned royalties on a model, based on a 2007 agreement that specified a single model.
"We are delighted with this result for Mr. Lamar because he recognizes the key role he has played in the origin of the world's most recognizable headphones," said Susman Partner Brian D. Melton. Godfrey and Lamar's lead counsel. "We are grateful to the jury for providing this longstanding application for him."
A lawyer and representatives of Dre, Iovine and Beats did not immediately respond to Variety's requests for comment.
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In 2006, Dre's lawyers filed a lawsuit against Jibe, Lamar and design firm Pentagram (whose co-designer Robert Brunner was a partner) and Lamar accusing them of failing to comply with the contractual agreements. In a settlement in 2007, Iovine and Dre agreed to pay a fee based on a "base price of 4% of each headset", but only one headset, Beats Studio, was specified.
The plaintiff argued that the design was deferred to other models and the jury agreed, deciding on Wednesday that the original features of the helmet had been used on newer models with "minor cosmetic changes" and that Dre and Iovine was required to pay $ 25,247,350 in royalties on the Remastered Studio 2, the Studio 2 Wireless and Studio 3 models.
In his complaint, Lamar essentially argues that the idea of Beats by Dre was his: "Around January 2006, Lamar introduced to Jimmy Iovine his headphone concept of celebrity music listening … [who] proposed that Dre be the celebrity musical artist. … Together, Lamar and Pentagram have developed design and branding concepts, including trademarks, logos, packaging and headphone product designs. Around February 2006, Lamara and Pentagram presented their initial design and branding concepts to Interscope, Iovine, Dre et al. "He notes that" in July 2006 "the business relationship between the parties concerned has deteriorated" and the settlement agreement was reached in April of the following year.
Beats was founded by Dre and Iovine in 2006 as Beats by Dre and was sold to Apple Inc. in 2014 for $ 3 billion.
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