Daily Journal – Contract flaws spell doom for Beats defense

Attorney Gil Peles of Tauler Smith LLP was sought for his expert opinion by the Los Angeles Daily Journal as jurors considered a high-profile breach-of-contract lawsuit involving Beats by Dr. Dre headphones and a man who was key in developing them.

Peles has published numerous articles about intellectual property law, one of his specialties, and litigates entertainment, employment, corporate and general commercial disputes.

The Beats case involved a dispute over whether a royalty agreement was meant to cover a single product or multiple products based on the same design. The contract didn’t clearly spell out the terms, and that ambiguity was a serious flaw, Peles said.

“One would think (Dr. Dre’s) highly paid attorneys would have made that abundantly clear in the contract language,”

Peles told the Daily Journal. “This circumstance will not be lost on the jury.”

It wasn’t. As Peles correctly predicted, the jury awarded the plaintiff $25 million in owed royalties.

Read the full story here (subscription may be required): https://tinyurl.com/PelesOnBeats