{"id":24264,"date":"2026-03-03T15:17:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T13:17:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wedodis.co.za\/news\/?p=24264"},"modified":"2026-03-03T15:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T13:20:12","slug":"__trashed-297","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wedodis.co.za\/news\/__trashed-297\/","title":{"rendered":"Songwriter Takes Legal Action Against Chris Brown Over Unpaid Royalties for ‘Monalisa’ and ‘Sensational’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chris Brown is currently involved in a legal dispute.<\/p>\n

The singer from the United States is being sued by songwriter Steve Chokpelle, who claims that he has not received royalties for two of Brown’s popular tracks, \u201cSensational\u201d and \u201cMonalisa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recently, Chokpelle initiated legal action, stating that he composed the lyrics for \u201cMonalisa\u201d in 2020 at Brown’s residence in California, yet is not acknowledged on the track.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Additionally, Chokpelle asserts that he wrote the lyrics for \u201cSensational\u201d in 2023, which became a hit with the help of producer Onyekachi Emenalo, also known as Krazytunez, before he shared it with the artist.<\/p>\n

Although Chokpelle\u2019s name appears as a composer for \u201cSensational,\u201d he argues that he was deliberately left out of the song\u2019s copyright registration and has not received any earnings from it.<\/p>\n

In the lawsuit, Chokpelle is requesting a court ruling to be recognized as a co-author and shared copyright owner of both \u201cMonalisa\u201d and \u201cSensational.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cDefendants sustained a tremendous benefit, and shall continue to receive tremendous benefit, by [earning] millions in revenues, acclaim, accolades and goodwill from the commercial exploitation of \u2018Monalisa\u2019 and \u2018Sensational\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result of defendants\u2019 failure to acknowledge plaintiff\u2019s authorship and copyright ownership interests, and by their failure to compensate plaintiff, defendants have been unjustly enriched,\u201d the lawsuit claims, as reported by various online sources.<\/p>\n

Moreover, he is seeking a minimum of $1 million (around R16 million) in damages from Brown, Kingston, Sony Music Entertainment, and Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), citing claims of unjust enrichment and fraud.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This lawsuit adds to a series of legal challenges that the artist known for \u201cResiduals\u201d has encountered in recent years.<\/p>\n

In 2025, the acclaimed singer was also taken to court for trademark infringement.<\/p>\n

A US-based swimwear brand called Breezy Swim alleged that Brown\u2019s use of the name \u201cBreezy Bowl\u201d for his tour conflicts with its branding for an annual fashion event with the same title.<\/p>\n

The R&B singer’s representatives have not yet made any public comments regarding either lawsuit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n