A New York court has blocked a NFT sale of Jay Z’s first album by issuing a temporary restraining order. The restraining order was given due to a complaint filed by Roc-A-Fella Records. The NFT was supposed to be Jay Z’s first studio album “Reasonable Doubt” and its copyrights.
The complaint by RAF was made on the grounds that its founder Damon Dash is trying to sell something he doesn’t own. The label RAF was founded by Jay Z, Dash and Kareem Burke in 1996. The album’s copyrights are owned by the label which is equally split between the three founders.
However, Dash is not the sole owner of the record. Moreover, court blocked the sale based on the complaint. Dash said in an interview to Rolling Stone that he only wanted to sell his stake in the company. Interestingly the next hearing is on 1st July upon which the last decision would be made.
RAF’s Lawyer said in a statement:
“The bottom line is simple: Dash can’t sell what he doesn’t own. By attempting such a sale, Dash has converted a corporate asset and has breached his fiduciary duties.”
The case of the minted NFT
The record label has alleged that Dash has already minted the NFT which is against the law. The label is also suing him for nominal damages, punitive damages as well as stripping him of the rights to sell the NFT.
However, Dash slammed the complaint saying that the NFT was never minted he didn’t even make an announcement. He said:
“There hasn’t been an announcement. There wasn’t an announcement at all. Don’t you think that if I made an announcement that I’m selling Reasonable Doubt you would’ve heard about it?”