Salt-N-Pepa's attempt at suing UMG met an unfortunate result this week. According to PEOPLE, on Thursday, January 8, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote dismissed the hip-hop duo's federal filing against the label in the Southern District of New York. The latter filed a motion to have the complaint tossed back in July 2025.
The Queens-based rap outfit accused the imprint of violating the Copyright Act, saying that they weren't allowing them to reclaim their masters. Moreover, Salt-N-Pepa claimed that UMG was retaliating by removing their music from DSPs.
In Judge Denise Cote's ruling, she determined that the hitmakers never owned the copyrights and recordings in the first place. Moreover, they never performed a transfer of said rights to themselves or anyone else.
Judge Coting says, "Even viewed in the light most favorable to Plaintiffs, the 1986 agreements do not indicate that Plaintiffs ever owned the copyrights to the sound recordings or that they granted a transfer of those rights to anyone else. Federal law allows termination rights only to authors who executed the original grant, and the court emphasized that "Plaintiffs can only terminate copyright transfers that they executed."
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UMG has since issued a statement following their legal victory. "While we are gratified that the court dismissed this baseless lawsuit, it should never have been brought in the first place. Prior to this suit — and without any legal obligation to do so — we made multiple attempts to resolve the matter amicably, improve the artists' compensation, and ensure that Salt-N-Pepa's fans had access to their music."
They conclude by saying that they are still willing to hash things out with the femcee pairing. "Even with the court's complete rejection of their claims, we remain open and willing to find a resolution to the matter and turn the page so we can focus our efforts on working together to amplify Salt-N-Pepa's legacy for generations to come."
As caught by Rolling Stone, Salt-N-Pepa have also responded to the news. "We remain committed to vindicating and reclaiming our rights as creators under the Copyright Act." Overall, it sounds like this fight might not be over just yet.
As for when it all began, the leading ladies, Cheryl James and Sandra Denton, brought this forth in May 2025. However, you could say that it technically grew legs in 2022 as they filed notices of termination in 2022 so that they could start reclaiming their master recordings.
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