Ricky Martin case revives after First Circuit vacates ruling
ricky martin’s copyright fight over Vida is alive again. On June 12, the First Circuit vacated an August 2024 ruling that had ended the case at the trial level and sent it back for more litigation.
That keeps Luis Adrián Cortés-Ramos’s claim moving in a dispute that has run nearly 12 years. The appeals court said the lower court acted too soon when it granted summary judgment without giving Cortés a fair shot at discovery.
June 12 in the First Circuit
Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson wrote that the trial court “took those sweeping actions without giving Cortés the benefit of a chance to pursue discovery, despite his repeated pleas for such an opportunity.” She added, “Cortés appeals on that ground … and we agree with him on the discovery issue, so we vacate and remand for more litigation, yet again.”
The panel also framed the case as a prolonged legal grind, writing, “This isn’t the first time Cortés has ended up before us in his David-versus-Goliath copyright battle — in fact, it’s his fifth appeal in twelve years across three cases.”
Vida and the FIFA album
Cortés first sued in July 2014, claiming Martin took his song and turned it into the 2014 hit Vida. The song appeared on One Love, One Rhythm – The 2014 FIFA World Cup Official Album and reached No. 5 on Billboard’s Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart during the 2014 global soccer tournament.
FIFA and Sony Music ran a contest for songwriters, and Cortés submitted an entry that was not chosen. He later took the fight through a waiver-based dismissal in 2015, an appeal win for Martin in 2016, and a 2020 ruling that let a personal case against Martin move ahead before the August 2024 summary judgment.
Discovery returns to the case
The practical result for both sides is simple: the case is not over, and the next phase is discovery. For Cortés, that means another chance to build the record the appellate court said he was denied; for Martin, it means the copyright dispute tied to a 2014 tournament song continues to hang over a track that already made the Latin chart top five.
