Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Musician Says Ex-Manager Turned His Site Into a Lemon Party

Electronic-music star Sacha Robotti brought federal cybersquatting charges Monday, claiming his former managers started redirecting his website traffic to the porn site lemonparty.com after he fired them.

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (CN) - Electronic-music star Sacha Robotti brought federal cybersquatting charges Monday, claiming his former managers started redirecting his website traffic to the porn site lemonparty.com after he fired them.

Represented by attorneys at Morton & Associates, Los Angeles-based Robotti filed his suit in Brooklyn against the talent agency TSG, which has an office on Prospect Place.

Robotti notes that he only signed a management agreement with TSG in late November 2014, but that TSG spent about $12 nearly a year earlier, “without [his] knowledge or authorization,” to register the domain sacharobotti.com on GoDaddy.

Robotti’s “repeated requests to transfer the domain, which encompasses Mr. Robotti’s personal and trade name in its entirety, to his account were ignored,” the complaint states.

In the intervening years, TSG has collected commissions from Robotti’s live performances and musical works, according to the complaint. Robotti notes that since 2009 he has been “dazzling audiences at esteemed musical festivals such as the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas and Burning Man with his unique and eclectic melodies.”

Since November 2017, however, fans have been unable to access Robotti’s website because of what the musician describes as a coercive attempt by TSG “to gain leverage” in their business dispute.

TSG notified Robotti via email on Nov. 7 that it was terminating their management contract effective immediately, and that it would be directing creditors his way to collect a commission of more than $3,800, plus a demo of eight songs.

“As for the website, we will hold until the 3-year sunset clause and above terms are met,” the email continues.

Robotti “vehemently disputes any alleged commissions or costs owed to defendant,” the complaint states.

On Nov. 15, according to the complaint, TSG revised its commissions demand to $4,900 but offered no “corresponding receipts, documentation or other evidence reflecting the accurate amounts owed.”

Robotti notes that traffic to the domain started getting redirected on Nov. 27 “to www.lemonparty.com, a website conspicuously featuring pornographic material.”

“Consumers and fans searching for information about Plaintiff and his musical works, which likely include minors, are thus re-directed to a website containing obscene and lascivious videos and photographs,” the complaint states.

Robotti notes that the redirect is still in effect, but that traffic is now being directed to camslive.co, another porn site.

As of press time Tuesday, traffic to lemonparty.com is being redirected to camslive.co, which contains dozens of sexually explicit images.

The nearly identical domain lemonparty.org rose to popularity in the early 2000s as a bait-and-switch link on discussion forums and image-board communities: users were effectively pranked into visiting the Lemon Party shock site that displayed an image of three elderly men in flagrante delicto.

Though traffic to sacharobotti.com was redirecting to camslive.co at midday Tuesday, the new redirect as of press time is fanlink.to/333am. The site contains a track called “3:33 a.m.” by Mr. Kristopher with options to play or buy the song on various websites. Mr. Kristopher is another music-producer client of TSG.

TSG has not responded to a request for comment Tuesday, nor have Robotti or his attorney, Roman Popov.

Categories / Arts, Business, Entertainment

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...