Kanye West was ordered to pay over $52,000 in legal fees after a judge ruled his team stalled discovery in a copyright lawsuit over two “Donda” tracks.
Kanye West has just taken a legal hit in Los Angeles, where a federal judge ordered him and his companies to pay $52,015 in attorney fees tied to a copyright dispute over his album, Donda.
The ruling upheld an earlier decision requiring West to pay legal costs after his team refused to cooperate during the discovery phase of a lawsuit filed by Artist Revenue Advocates, LLC.
The group claims that West unlawfully used copyrighted material created by DJ Khalil and three other musicians on two tracks, “Moon” and “Hurricane”—from his 2021 album, Donda— without authorization.
Kanye West credited them as songwriters and producers, but he never received their clearance to use the music, which they say generated at least $15 million in revenue.
West’s and his legal team objected to all 65 of their attempts to obtain key documents and produced no records at all. That led them to ask the court to intervene.
A judge agreed with DJ Khalil and his crew, ordering Kanye West’s companies to hand over the requested materials and pay the legal fees incurred in forcing that outcome.
After reviewing billing records, the magistrate set the amount at just over $52,000.
West’s lawyers pushed back, calling the fee “excessive” and arguing that the songwriters used too many senior attorneys at high hourly rates. They requested that the court reduce the award to $15,000.
The judge wasn’t persuaded and said the number of objections from West’s team justified the time spent by the plaintiff’s lawyers.
The fee order is part of a broader lawsuit that remains active in federal court. The case, filed in 2023, could determine whether West and his companies are liable for copyright infringement related to the two tracks.
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