Bad Bunny's Ex-Girlfriend Can Keep Suing Him Over Voice Memo on Un Verano Sin Ti Track, Court Rules

In a nuanced decision handed down by Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court on July 10, 2026, the plaintiff Carliz De La Cruz Hernández may proceed with her lawsuit against rapper Bad Bunny over a vocal sample taken from a 2022 voice memo embedded in the track ‘Dos Mil 16’ from his album Un Verano Sin Ti, while the court dismissed an earlier claim concerning a different song, underscoring the court's nuanced approach to celebrity privacy and artistic expression. The court found that the phrase ‘Bad Bunny baby,’ captured in the voice memo, constitutes a protectable element of the song’s creative expression, allowing the plaintiff to argue that the rapper used her likeness and personal communication without consent. However, the judges rejected a parallel claim tied to an earlier 2019 track, emphasizing the temporal limitation of the alleged infringement. The ruling highlights a distinction between a fleeting vocal snippet and a produced lyrical passage, deemed protectable. This ruling arrives amid a growing trend of celebrity‑related litigation where personal relationships intersect with intellectual property disputes. While the music industry has long wrestled with sampling, the involvement of a high‑profile couple adds intimacy that amplifies public scrutiny and may influence how courts evaluate emotional content versus commercial value. Looking ahead, the decision may prompt more plaintiffs to pursue claims based on informal recordings, leading artists and labels to adopt stricter protocols for handling private audio. Conversely, it reinforces that fleeting, non‑copyrighted utterances are less likely to support litigation, shaping the balance between artistic freedom and personal privacy.