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Beyonce has been forced to delete a special version of her current album--following legal problems.
As previously reported, the singer is in the process of being sued by
singer Des'Ree following allegations that she did not get permission to
cover a song called "I'm Kissing You" on B Day - Deluxe Edition.
Allegedly a deal to use the song did not come to fruition, but Beyonce
re-recorded the song as "Still in Love (Kissing You)" and made a video.
Beyonce's legal team state that it was only a month before B Day - Deluxe Edition's release--on March 3--that they had a "confirmation letter and license request."
However, the Royalty Network's lawyers answered her request by
submitting a counter proposal in which they granted permission to use
the song within certain limits. These included the specification that
they could not use the song in video form and that the title of the
song would not be changed, reports MTV News.
The Royalty Network's lawyers said that "despite follow-ups" they
didn't hear back from Beyonce's team. They alleged that on March 27,
despite their protests, they discovered that the singer planned to
proceed with their plans to include a video of the song with a
different title on her album anyway.
In a letter to Beyonce's lawyer, the Royalty Network called the move "completely unacceptable."
The Royalty Network came to an agreement with the singer on April 16
that her record company would "engage in no further distribution" of
the album or video anthology until at least a preliminary injunction
hearing on May 4. They are also seeking $150,000 in damages.
Speaking about Des'Ree's song earlier this year, Beyonce said: "It was
one of my all-time favorite songs. It gives you this emotion--I don't
care who you are, you just feel it. So I just did it for myself--a lot
of songs, I do like that--and I let people hear it and they were like,
'You are crazy, you have to put it on the album.' So I did. It was a
last-minute decision."
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