N ENTREPRENEUR who co-designed the well-known Beats headphones range has launched legal action against former business partners Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine.
Monster founder Noel Lee, who helped launch Beats By Dre in 2008, claimed the lawsuit was a result of him losing “millions” because his technology was “pirated” by Dre and Iovine, who allegedly “improperly took control” of the venture.
Monster and Beats split before the headphones company was sold to Apple for a reported $3bn (£1.9bn).
Lee filed the legal action in California and in his documents he claimed that the rapper and music producer had little to do with creating the headphones named after him.
According to Forbes magazine, Dre and Iovine made $100m (£66m) each when they sold Beats to mobile phone giants HTC in 2012.
LEGAL CLAIMS: Monster founder Noel Lee (PA)
However, HTC soon resold Beats back to Dre and Iovine – a move that Lee called a “sham” to remove him from the picture after, he claims, he had lowered his five per cent stake in Beats to 1.25 per cent in order to make the original sale to HTC possible.
Lee also says in court papers that he would have made over $30m (£19.8m) from the sale to Apple if he had retained his 1.25 per cent stake, which he sold in the 2012 deal with HTC.
Meanwhile, his original five per cent stake would have seen Lee net $150m (£99m) from the sale to Apple.
In a statement, Monster’s lawyers said Dre and Iovine “made millions off the work of Monster and Lee, while the plaintiffs lost millions”.
Iovine, a co-founder of Interscope Records, and the West Coast rapper, who shot to fame with group NWA, are also facing another lawsuit from David Hyman after he sold his music streaming business MOG to the pair in 2012.
Dre, Iovine and their legal representatives have not yet publicly responded to the latest lawsuit.
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