Overview

• U.S. District Judge Pamela K. Chen allowed PleasrDAO’s misappropriation of trade secrets claims to continue while dismissing counts she said were preempted by federal copyright law.
• The court also threw out a forfeiture-enforcement claim, ruling that only the government can enforce Shkreli’s forfeiture agreement.
• Chen highlighted the unusual use of trade-secret law for a music album and distinguished the case from prior rulings involving unreleased songs by Prince and Janet Jackson.
• PleasrDAO bought Once Upon a Time in Shaolin from the U.S. government for about $4 million in 2021 and later paid $750,000 for related rights.
• The lawsuit alleges Shkreli copied and streamed the album, with filings citing his online taunts and acknowledgments of sharing, and a prior order required him to surrender any copies as PleasrDAO seeks damages and return of remaining materials.