Taylor Swift Texts, Michael Jackson Case, AXS Lawsuit: Music Law Recap

THE BIG STORY: Taylor Swift keeps getting dragged into Hollywood’s messiest lawsuit – and it just happened again.

Taylor doesn’t really have anything to do with the case, in which Blake Lively is accusing director Justin Baldoni of sexually harassing her on the set It Ends With Us and then orchestrating a public relations smear campaign after she complained about it.

But Baldoni has repeatedly sought to pull the music superstar into the litigation over her friendship with Lively — first by sending her a subpoena, then by claiming Lively’s attorneys tried to strong-arm Swift into voicing public support. That claim was quickly slapped down by a judge who said it was a “misuse” of the courts aimed at sparking “public scandal.”

Now, more than a year after the ugly dispute started dominating tabloids, Taylor is again at the center of the action.

Back in June, Judge Lewis Liman ruled that text messages between the two friends were relevant to Lively’s accusations of improper conduct by Baldoni, meaning they could be made part of the case record. And on Tuesday, that judge unsealed those texts – revealing back-and-forths in which Swift at one point called the director a “bitch.”

For more details on the now-public texts, go read Billboard’s story here.

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Other top stories this week…

-Four siblings who claim they were abused by Michael Jackson as children were in a Los Angeles courtroom as a judge said they likely cannot sue the King of Pop’s estate due to an earlier settlement.

-Ticketing giant AXS is suing a company that allegedly helps scalpers in “spoofing” digital concert passes, claiming “unsuspecting consumers” have been turned away from big-ticket shows.

-Calvin Harris won a $13.5 million judgment against ex-business manager Thomas St. John, whom the EDM star accused of abusing their financial relationship to fund a Los Angeles real estate “boondoggle.”

-Artist and songwriter advocates were quick to heap praise on a novel court ruling that would allow artists to regain their global copyrights, calling it “a massive win for the principle of fairness.”

-Lawyers for Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber threatened to sue for defamation over a psychology influencer who described their marriage as abusive in viral TikTok videos.

-Prosecutors dropped charges of witness-tampering against YNW Melly, prompting the rapper’s lawyers to vow renewed efforts to free him after nearly seven years behind bars awaiting a murder trial.

-A judge says Martin Shkreli can’t drag Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA into a messy battle over the group’s one-of-a-kind album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, blasting the ask as “astonishingly devoid of support.”

-Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee is once again facing claims he sexually assaulted a woman during a helicopter flight in 2003, thanks to a new California law allowing the filing of years-old abuse cases.

-Xzibit is facing a new lawsuit from his ex-wife that claims the Pimp My Ride rapper illegally sold away their stake in a cannabis brand – and that he was doing drugs and having an affair.

-Drew Barrymore was hit with a copyright lawsuit claiming she used a song in an Instagram post promoting her Flower Beauty brand — the latest such case over music in social media ads.

-Julio Iglesias responded to the sexual assault and human trafficking allegations made against him recently in Spanish court, strongly denying the accusations as “completely false.”