After sending in several discovery requests, Judge Jeannette A. Vargas has given the OK to Drake to view one contract in particular. That would be Kendrick Lamar's, which he's been seeking to get his hands on for the last couple of months. The Toronto icon's legal team filed to view it again earlier this month after receiving an "unreadable" version of it in June.
"[UMG] produced a heavily redacted version of the Interscope Agreement with Kendrick Lamar… the extent of [UMG's] redactions — which cover the vast majority of the 22-page agreement — render the agreement unreadable and incomprehensible."
While this could be a big win for Drake's mission in proving that UMG was artificially inflating the success of "Not Like Us," there is a twist here. In legal documents obtained by DJ Akademiks, only parties involved in this legal battle will be able to see Lamar's contract.
"Plaintiff and UMG's request for permission to file under seal a contract between UMG Recordings, Inc. and Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, as produced by UMG in redacted form with the designation Attorney's Eyes Only is GRANTED," Judge Vargas' ruling reads.
"Under seal" means that the public will not have any access to the innerworkings of Lamar's contract.
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Drake UMG Lawsuit
The judge decided to go this route because as she puts it, "UMG has made a sufficient showing that the information the he [Drake] seeks to seal qualifies as confidential, 'sensitive business information.'"
She continues, "The Court therefore finds that, in this instance, the 'interest in protecting confidential business information outweighs the qualified First Amendment presumption of public access.'"
Additionally, Judge Vargas says this also best practice to help preserve UMG's "business relationships and interests, and the privacy interests of non-parties."
With this ruling now complete, it will be interesting to see if Drake will be able to view other important documentation. He's also demanding to see texts and emails from UMG CEO Lucian Grange prior to the release of "Not Like Us."
Elsewhere the hitmaker and his legal reps are wanting to view financial records from the Interscope CEO. Moreover, he's targeting well over a dozen execs at UMG in his defamation lawsuit.
