A federal high court in Ikoyi, Lagos, has dismissed the criminal case regarding the alleged covert sale of Burna Boy’s early music catalogue, criticising the police over what it described as a negligent approach to pursuing the intellectual property disputes. The case stemmed from a dispute over the sale of Burna Boy’s early catalogue and an alleged fraudulent conversion against Aristokrat Records and its founder, Piriye Isokrari.
The lawsuit arose after 960 Music Group, a minority shareholder, initiated legal action to overturn the multimillion-dollar sale of Burna Boy’s catalogue from his former label Aristokrat Music to his current company Spaceship Music, which is owned by the artiste and his mother, manager Bose Ogulu, in a transaction dated May and June 2024.
The catalogue includes the albums ‘L.I.F.E’ from 2013 and ‘Redemption’ from 2016, as well as the early singles that helped define Burna Boy’s Afro fusion sound. 960 Music Group, which holds a 40 percent equity stake in Aristokrat Music, claimed it was completely sidelined.
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The court voiced strong dissatisfaction with how the police handled the case and noted that the defendant had missed prior court dates, prompting the court to authorise substituted service to facilitate proper notice. With no reasonable justification for ignoring that order or for failing to move the case toward arraignment, the court dismissed the charge due to lack of diligent prosecution.
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