{"id":761981,"date":"2026-07-14T08:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T08:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/761981\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T08:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T08:05:13","slug":"bad-bunnys-ex-wins-key-ruling-in-40m-bad-bunny-baby-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/761981\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad Bunny’s Ex Wins Key Ruling in $40M ‘Bad Bunny, Baby’ Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bad Bunny\u2019s<\/a> ex-girlfriend just scored a major victory in her $40 million legal battle over the now-famous \u201cBad Bunny, baby\u201d voice note. The Puerto Rico Supreme Court ruled that Carliz De La Cruz Hern\u00e1ndez may pursue copyright and identity-rights claims involving the recording\u2019s use on \u201cDos Mil 16,\u201d a track from the superstar\u2019s blockbuster 2022 album, Un Verano Sin Ti<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to Rolling Stone<\/a>, the court reversed an earlier dismissal of Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s copyright claim, finding that her personal and recognizable vocal performance could potentially qualify for protection. Just as importantly, the majority determined that she presented enough facts to plausibly argue that Bad Bunny\u2014real name: Benito Antonio Mart\u00ednez Ocasio\u2014and Rimas Entertainment commercially exploited her identity without permission. One dissenting judge argued that both claims should have been dismissed.<\/p>\n

At the center of the case are a few seconds of audio recorded long before Bad Bunny became one of the world\u2019s biggest artists. Hern\u00e1ndez says she recorded herself saying \u201cBad Bunny, baby\u201d in a friend\u2019s bathroom at his request in 2015. <\/p>\n

The former couple began dating in 2011 while attending the University of Puerto Rico, reportedly became engaged in 2016, and briefly reconciled after separating. During their early years together, Hern\u00e1ndez claims she also helped schedule performances and handle invoices and contracts as his career took shape.<\/p>\n

According to the lawsuit, one of Bad Bunny\u2019s representatives offered Hern\u00e1ndez $2,000 for the recording in May 2022, shortly before Un Verano Sin Ti arrived. She declined, and no agreement was reached. Still, the voice note appeared on \u201cDos Mil 16.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hern\u00e1ndez alleges it was subsequently used at concerts, on streaming platforms, on social media, on television, on radio, and in promotional campaigns. The exposure, her complaint said, left her feeling \u201cworried, anguished, intimidated, overwhelmed and anxious.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ruling was not a total win for Hern\u00e1ndez. Although she can continue pursuing claims tied to \u201cDos Mil 16,\u201d the court found that she waited too long to seek damages over the voice note\u2019s appearance on Bad Bunny\u2019s 2016 song \u201cPa Ti.\u201d That portion of the case was barred by the statute of limitations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bad Bunny\u2019s ex-girlfriend just scored a major victory in her $40 million legal battle over the now-famous \u201cBad…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88],"class_list":["post-761981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}