Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre have been ordered by a court to pay over $25 million to their former business partner Steven Lamar.
The legal battle between the two parties has been going on since 2014 when Iovine and Dre first sued Lamar for falsely advertising that he was a co-founder of Beats. Now a jury has ruled in favor of Lamar’s claim that he should receive more royalties from the company’s headphone sales.
Iovine and Dr. Dre sold Beats to Apple for $3 billion in 2014. Beat’s music streaming service provided the foundation for Apple Music. The company still sells its pricey headphones under its own brand while using Apple’s Bluetooth chips.
On Wednesday a jury ruled that Lamar fulfilled his contract and that he should be awarded royalties on sales of the Studio 2 Remastered, Studio 2 Wireless and Studio 3 headphones. Dre and Iovine argued that Lamar was only entitled to royalties from the Beats Studio headphones.
Total royalties owed were pegged at $25,247,350. Considering Dr. Dre is the first billionaire of hip-hop and Jimmy Iovine is even richer, they shouldn’t have any problems footing the bill.
