Bad Bunny must face a lawsuit from his former girlfriend over the use of her “Bad Bunny baby” voice recording on a track from his 2022 album Un Verano Sin Ti.
That is after the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico ruled on July 8 that Carliz De La Cruz Hernández can continue pursuing claims over the recording, sending the case back to a trial court in San Juan.
De La Cruz Hernández, who is seeking at least USD $40 million in damages, sued Bad Bunny and his label Rimas Entertainment in 2023.
The decision was issued in an 80–page filing authored by Associate Justice Mildred G. Pabón Charneco.
The ruling, which MBW has reviewed, was obtained and translated from Spanish via DeepL. You can read the translated filing here.
According to the complaint, De La Cruz Hernández recorded the phrase “Bad Bunny baby” in 2015 at the request of Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, the artist’s legal name, while the two were in a relationship.
The recording later appeared on the 2016 track Pa Ti and on Dos Mil 16, a song from Un Verano Sin Ti released in 2022, without her consent or written authorization.
Before the album’s release, representatives for the artist offered De La Cruz Hernández $2,000 to buy retroactive and future use of the tag, an offer she rejected.
The recording was also played during Bad Bunny‘s concerts at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot on July 28, 29 and 30, 2022, according to the complaint.
In its ruling, Puerto Rico‘s highest court found that De La Cruz Hernández could proceed with claims tied to Dos Mil 16 under the territory’s Right of Publicity Act.
“[T]he lower courts… did not err in determining that the facts presented regarding the commercial or business exploitation of Ms. De la Cruz Hernández’s voice were sufficient to draw attention to the product in question or to inform the public about it through the media,” wrote Pabón Charneco.
The majority also revived De La Cruz Hernández‘s claim under the Moral Rights of Authors Act, which lower courts had dismissed, after finding her vocal performance could qualify as an original work.
“[T]he lower courts… did not err in determining that the facts presented regarding the commercial or business exploitation of Ms. De la Cruz Hernández’s voice were sufficient to draw attention to the product in question or to inform the public about it through the media.”
Mildred G. Pabón Charneco, Associate Justice, Puerto Rico
“[T]o the extent that such a performance using her voice is fixed in a tangible medium, we recognize that copyright may arise in the recording,” Pabón Charneco added.
“Ms. De la Cruz Hernández alleged in her Complaint that the recording of her personal, distinctive, and incomparable rendition of the phrase was misused and that it was used without proper attribution. Therefore, we conclude that the plaintiff has presented sufficient facts to eventually offer evidence justifying this claim.”
The court also affirmed the dismissal of claims over the 2016 track Pa Ti, finding they had been filed too late under the statute of limitations.
The decision was not unanimous, with Associate Justice Ángel Colón Pérez dissenting.
“[I]t seems clear to us that, in the context of the present litigation, none of the causes of action invoked by Ms. De La Cruz Hernández is legally valid under any [law] available in our jurisdiction.”
Ángel Colón Pérez, Associate Justice, Puerto Rico
“[I]t seems clear to us that, in the context of the present litigation, none of the causes of action invoked by Ms. De La Cruz Hernández is legally valid under any [law] available in our jurisdiction,” wrote Colón Pérez.
The ruling is one of two similar voice-use lawsuits filed against Bad Bunny in San Juan by the same legal team.
In January, Tainaly Serrano Rivera sued the artist and Rimas for $16 million, alleging her voice was used without permission on his 2018 track Solo de Mí and on EoO, from his 2025 album Debí Tirar Más Fotos.
That suit, like De La Cruz Hernández‘s, invokes Puerto Rico‘s Moral Rights of Authors Act and Right of Publicity Act.
Bad Bunny is separately among more than 150 artists named in a copyright lawsuit over the “dembow” rhythm used across reggaeton, alongside Karol G, Daddy Yankee and Drake.
The lawsuits arrive as Bad Bunny sits atop the streaming business.
He was Spotify’s most-streamed artist globally in 2025, with more than 19.8 billion streams, reclaiming the title from Taylor Swift after topping the platform from 2020 to 2022.
Debí Tirar Más Fotos topped Spotify‘s global album chart for 2025 and became the first fully Spanish-language release to win Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards.
In February, Bad Bunny headlined the Super Bowl LX halftime show, the first solo Latino artist to top the bill.Music Business Worldwide
