Post Malone convinced a court to temporarily delay the trial concerning the authorship dispute for his hit song “Circles.” The suit was brought on by Canadian musician Tyler Armes, who claims he’s owed partial ownership of the song because he contributed a guitar riff to it.
Rolling Stone reports U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright, who is presiding over the case, has agreed to move the upcoming trial from October 11 to December 13. Post had requested the delay because of his touring schedule.
Lawyers for the Grammy-nominated singer say he’ll voluntarily testify in the case when it resumes later this year.
However, the good luck seemingly ends there as Judge Wright noted he only delayed the case because Armes’ team also agreed to the postponement. He also criticized Post’s team for demanding a last-minute “forensic examination” on Armes’ cellphone after filing an emergency request on a claim the Canadian singer had concealed “critical” evidence.
Post had previously claimed the deleted text messages would refute Armes’ claim that he was present at the August 2018 jam session that created fragments of the hit song. The singer also called for sanctions to be placed on Armes.
Judge Wright called the attempt “patently improper” and added that placing sanctions on an individual “are only for instances of egregious discovery abuses.” When looking into the evidence that supposedly proved Armes concealed evidence, Wright said he failed to satisfy the requirements of proof “by a wide margin.”
The judge also noted Post could face sanctions himself for “abusing” those tools.
As previously reported, Armes claims he co-wrote the chords and bass line for “Circles” in addition to a guitar riff. He adds he was originally offered publishing royalties capped at 5 percent, but the offer was withdrawn when he tried negotiating for more.
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