EMI has reopened its back-and-forth legal dispute with Kanye West, according to TMZ. The move is coming in under the wire: though the suits seemed to be settled in September, a federal judge had ruled that either party could re-open the case before Friday, December 27. According to TMZ, EMI’s lawyers wrote “unfortunately the parties have been unable to finalize the terms of the settlement agreement.”
EMI has handled the publishing rights for West’s catalog since 2003. In January 2019, West sued the publishing company, claiming that it was trying to lock him into lifetime “servitude” and control his music for the rest of his life. EMI filed a federal countersuit in March, claiming that West was ineligible to break his contract because he had signed multiple extensions for the company to handle his publishing.
Pitchfork has contacted West’s reps for comment.