So this whole lawsuit against Beyoncé's camp just got tossed out on a technicality, and it's kind of wild. A company called Hirose Enterprises sued Parkwood Entertainment, claiming rights over the sample that kicks off Alien Superstar, and a federal judge basically said the company didn't even legally exist yet when it filed the suit.
Judge Mark C. Scarsi handled the case out of the Central District of California, and he compared his jurisdictional check to running a system diagnostic before digging into anyone's actual arguments. Turns out Hirose Enterprises wasn't formed until August 6, 2025, eight days after the complaint went in, which basically nukes any claim to legal standing.
The sample itself comes from a 1998 track called Moonraker by artist John Holiday, who performs as Foremost Poets. Parkwood had already licensed it straight from Holiday back in September 2022, paying him $10,000 and a cut of royalties. Hirose claimed ownership through an old deal from 1998, but there was no paperwork to back it up.
An earlier version of this case got dismissed in March for the same missing-documentation issue. This one's over for now, though Hirose can still appeal since the dismissal came without prejudice.
Judge Mark C. Scarsi handled the case out of the Central District of California, and he compared his jurisdictional check to running a system diagnostic before digging into anyone's actual arguments. Turns out Hirose Enterprises wasn't formed until August 6, 2025, eight days after the complaint went in, which basically nukes any claim to legal standing.
The sample itself comes from a 1998 track called Moonraker by artist John Holiday, who performs as Foremost Poets. Parkwood had already licensed it straight from Holiday back in September 2022, paying him $10,000 and a cut of royalties. Hirose claimed ownership through an old deal from 1998, but there was no paperwork to back it up.
An earlier version of this case got dismissed in March for the same missing-documentation issue. This one's over for now, though Hirose can still appeal since the dismissal came without prejudice.
