By Aritz Parra
MADRID (AP) --Colombian singers Shakira and Carlos Vives on Monday rejected allegations made by a Cuban-born singer and producer that they had plagiarized his work in their award-winning music hit "La Bicicleta".
A judge in Madrid accepted a lawsuit by the label representing Livan Rafael Castellanos, also known as Livam, who says that "La Bicicleta" contains lyrics, rhythm and melody similar to those of his 1997 song, "Yo te quiero tanto."
"Neither Carlos Vives nor Shakira have received any copy of a lawsuit pertaining to 'La Bicicleta,' and as such abstain from commenting on this matter," said 42West, the public relations firm representing Shakira, in a statement emailed to The Associated Press on Monday.
However, the statement continued: "'La Bicicleta' is a completely original work and they adamantly reject any allegation to the contrary."
It could take days for a court to inform the parties in a lawsuit but once notified, the legal teams will have 20 days to submit evidence of their position, said the Madrid-based law firm representing Livam.
Payments for the rights of the hit have been temporarily halted.
"La Bicicleta" — which means "The Bicycle" in English — won two of the three biggest Grammy Latino awards for 2016, including song and record of the year and is a finalist in several categories of the Billboard Awards.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More