A US federal judge has ruled that Bad Bunny is not entitled to recover roughly $465,000 in legal fees spent defending a copyright lawsuit over an uncleared sample on his album Un Verano Sin Ti, saying such an order would "send the wrong message" to rights holders. Judge Otis D. Wright II found the case brought by Empawa Africa was "objectively reasonable" and showed no evidence of improper motive, rejecting the star's claim that the lawsuit was meritless and filed only to extract a payout.

The suit, filed last year, alleged that Bad Bunny's track "Enséñame a Bailar" contained an uncleared sample of Nigerian artist Dera's 2019 song "Empty My Pocket." Bad Bunny said the sample had been properly licensed through production company Lakizo Entertainment, and Empawa dropped the case this spring after he raised that defence. However, the judge noted the star's lawyers had refused to provide proof of the licence, and that copyright law's fee-shifting rules should not punish rights holders for testing genuine claims in court. Empawa's attorney welcomed the decision, while Bad Bunny's legal team had yet to respond.