Season 8 runner-up Adam Lambert arrived fashionably late to the Idol finale with boyfriend Sauli Koskinen in hand. After some endearing nudging by Lambert, the two later posed together on the red carpet.
Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesAdam Lambert is wrapping up a settlement of a lawsuit that suggested he shouldn’t have been allowed to appear on American Idol because he already signed to a record label.
In November, the singer was sued by Colwel Platinum Entertainment after he allegedly interfered with its efforts to market a Lambert album entitled Beg For Mercy. Lambert recorded the work between April 2007 and September 2008, and was said to have executed a Music Services Agreement and Co-Publishing Agreement with one of Colwel’s subsidiaries.
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A few months after making the recordings, despite rules that forbid the eligibility of those with recording contracts, Lambert appeared on the eighth season of Fox’s hit singing competition show.
After Lambert became famous from his participation on American Idol, Colwel attempted to release Beg For Mercy on Amazon.com. Lambert was unhappy about this, tweeting about his surprise and having his reps send a takedown notice to Amazon.
Colwel responded by suing Lambert for making a false claim under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
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According to the original lawsuit, Colwel says it spent more than $200,000 to produce the recordings, fronted Lambert a loan when he was struggling financially, and held up contracts as proof that it owned a 50 percent publishing share of the recordings and had an unconditional right to promote and sell the album.
The issue of Lambert’s eligibility on American Idol wasn’t core to the claims, but the lawsuit was potentially embarrassing anyway. When THR published a story about this lawsuit in November, Lambert tweeted, “Remember than in any dispute, reserve judgement until all the facts surface from ALL parties. Guilt and innocence come with a complete story.”
But it now appears that the dispute isn’t going very far.
The attorneys for both parties recently submitted a request to extend the time that certain papers had to be submitted. According to the stipulation, “The parties’ transactional counsel have negotiated and agreed upon the material terms of a settlement…reflected in a series of emails between said counsel.”
The judge was told that an executed agreement would be completed by Friday.
The attorney for the plaintiffs has confirmed to us that a settlement is being finalized, but couldn’t offer details about the confidential terms. Lambert’s reps haven’t yet responded to our requests for information.
E-mail: eriqgardner@yahoo.com
Twitter: @eriqgardner
