Less than two months after filing a massive unpaid-royalties lawsuit against Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo is upping the stakes with an expanded complaint.
The Neptunes co-founder is now challenging Williams over several tracks where Hugo is left out as a credited creator of the tunes, per Forbes. Hugo’s original complaint only addressed Williams’ alleged failure to pay Hugo $1 million in partnership proceeds. Hugo also accused Williams of denying him access to financial records and royalty documentation despite repeated requests dating back to 2021.
In the amended complaint, Hugo is demanding credits on releases from Rosalía’s Motomami and La Combi Versace, as well as Williams’ tracks “Cash In Cash Out”, “Love is Not Written”, “Pure”, “Real One” feat. Latto, and tracks by Nigo featuring Tyler, the Creator: “Lost and Found” and “Freestyle.”
“[Hugo] and Defendant Williams, operating as The Neptunes, have created numerous joint works over their decades of collaboration, with the mutual intention that their respective contributions would be merged into unified musical works,” according to the latest court document.
In the amended complaint, Hugo describes himself as the “principal composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, and producer responsible for programming, instrumentation, and overall sound design” of the duo, while Williams “more frequently appeared as the public-facing member.”
Hugo and Williams established The Neptunes nearly 35 years ago and have since produced hits for Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and many others.
In the complaint Hugo maintains that Williams has left him out as a credited creator. Hugo asserted that there was a “mutual understanding and intention that his contributions would be credited.”
Forbes reported last week that Hugo’s copyright claims face a challenge as most of the songs were released in 2022, falling outside the three-year statute of limitations under the U.S. Copyright Act. The Copyright Act bars ownership disputes filed more than three years after a work’s release. Hugo’s amended complaint was filed more than three years after those songs came out, the report said