Details About Britney Spears' History Of Legal Troubles

Superstar performer Britney Spears has had a rough couple of decades. For nearly 14 years, the pop superstar could not spend her own money or make any major personal or career decisions without the permission of her father Jamie due to a conservatorship that came to an end only in 2021. In addition, not only did her relationship with her sons Jayden James and Sean Preston, whom she shares with ex-husband Kevin Federline, suffer during this period, but her songwriting inspiration and desire to put out new music also dried up. "Music was my life and the conservatorship was deadly for that," Spears wrote in her memoir (via The Guardian).

Spears' heartbreaks didn't stop with the termination of her conservatorship, however, as she was publicly criticized by her sons over her Instagram posts and parenting, and her marriage to Sam Asghari ended in divorce less than two years after they tied the knot. However, it hasn't been all bad for the "Toxic" hitmaker. Since regaining control over her life, Spears has released a song with Elton John, shared her story through her New York Times bestselling memoir  "The Woman in Me," and signed a deal to turn her book into a biopic directed by Jon M. Chu. The singer's strained relationship with her children also appeared to be on the mend as Jayden, who moved to Hawaii with his dad alongside Sean, reportedly visited Spears in Los Angeles and stayed with her in November 2024, People reported.

But it wasn't just the conservatorship that cast a shadow over Spears' music career and business ventures. The Princess of Pop also faced many legal troubles over the years, with lawsuits accusing her of plagiarism, sexual harassment, and more.

Britney Spears' 1999 debut album, "... Baby One More Time," is filled with timeless pop hits, but there's one track there that the singer reportedly wasn't fond of — "Sometimes." While on tour in 2004, Spears allegedly told concertgoers (per Glamour), "I have to go? I haven't even sung 'Sometimes'! Oh God! I never liked that song anyway!" While it didn't perform as well as other singles like "...Baby One More Time" and "(You Drive Me) Crazy" on the Billboard Hot 100, "Sometimes" still achieved success, peaking at No. 21 in the United States and No. 3 in the United Kingdom, so it may just be a matter of music preferences changing over time. But if Spears didn't like "Sometimes" in 2004, then being sued for copyright infringement over the song the following year likely didn't improve her opinion.

In his May 2005 lawsuit against Spears, songwriter Steve Wallace sought monetary compensation from her, claiming he wrote "Sometimes" in 1990, nine years before the megastar was granted a copyright for the song and released it through her debut album, Billboard reported. Though he only obtained a formal copyright for his track four years after she did, he presented several pieces of evidence in his attempt to prove Spears copied his song, including a supposed email from the singer in which she allegedly acknowledged he was the original writer of "Sometimes" as well as a sealed envelope containing his work that was stamped with a postmark indicating it was created in 1990. However, the judge ultimately ruled that Wallace's evidence wasn't strong enough and threw out his lawsuit six months later.

If you look at her entire discography, Britney Spears' "Do Somethin'" from her 2004 album "Greatest Hits: My Prerogative" is not the most memorable or iconic. But Spears clearly loved the song as she insisted on shooting a music video for it and even co-directed the project alongside Bille Woodruff. However, the decision to let Spears lead the creation of the 2005 music video ended up costing Jive parent company Sony BMG and MTV Online around $117,000 each in fines and undisclosed amounts in legal fees in 2007 after Louis Vuitton sued them over the video, Billboard reported.

In a lawsuit filed in Paris, Louis Vuitton said the companies did not obtain its permission to feature clear shots of its signature "LV" logo in the "Do Somethin'" music video, which the French luxury fashion house claimed had "damaged their image," according to Digital Spy. The brand's logo appeared on the dashboard of the car Spears could be seen driving near the start of the video. The court ruled in favor of Louis Vuitton and, in addition to giving out fines, banned the music video from being broadcast in Europe. Though she co-directed the project, Spears was not found guilty of any wrongdoing in the case. Eight years after the judgment, an updated version of the "Do Somethin'" music video was released.

Britney Spears made history with her 2011 hit, "Hold It Against Me," by becoming the second artist after Mariah Carey to debut two consecutive singles at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. But as she was celebrating this achievement, The Bellamy Brothers rained on her parade when they alleged her song plagiarized their 1979 hit, "If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me." David Bellamy told The Daily Star (via Daily Mail) at the time, "Howard and I have no personal beef with Britney. ... But professionally we feel completely ripped off. We will without doubt take the appropriate legal action if our attorneys agree we've been ripped off."

The country music duo seemingly took issue with Spears' lyric, "If I said I want your body now, would you hold it against me?" In The Bellamy Brothers' song, they repeat the lyric, "If I said you have a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?" multiple times throughout the track. The Bellamys had a lawyer look into whether they have an infringement case against Spears, according to Billboard, but the legal action they threatened ultimately never happened. A law expert shared a possible explanation, telling Billboard: "In copyright law, a short phrase in and of itself is not protected."

Instead of Spears, it was the brothers who ended up apologizing to "Hold It Against Me's" songwriters, who included Max Martin and Dr. Luke, so they would drop a defamation and libel lawsuit they filed against the Bellamys, TMZ reported.

At the peak of her career, Britney Spears was not only dominating the pop scene — she was also selling products such as perfume like hotcakes. Attaching her name to the 2004 fragrance Curious helped Elizabeth Arden sell more than 700 million units of the perfume, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Spears' next collaboration with the beauty brand, the now-iconic Fantasy perfume, became an instant hit when it was released the following year, garnering over $30 million in sales within the first month. These successes spurred Spears and the cosmetics giant to release 22 more Britney-branded fragrances over the next 13 years.

However, in 2011, Spears and her father Jamie were sued by Brand Sense Partners, which alleged that it was supposed to get a 35% cut of Spears' profits from all the fragrances released under the partnership between the singer and Elizabeth Arden, Rolling Stone reported. The licensing firm claimed in its lawsuit that this was the commission they agreed on when it brokered the perfume deal between Spears and the beauty brand in 2004. However, Spears allegedly refused to pay the firm the amount it was owed and instead "made a separate deal with Elizabeth Arden in a sneaky, underhanded effort to circumvent and evade its obligations to Brand Sense", the suit claimed. The lawsuit was settled in 2012 after Spears agreed to pay Brand Sense the commissions as well as an undisclosed sum, per TMZ. The exact figures are unclear, but considering the "Gimme More" songstress had received $52 million for Curious alone by 2010, per THR, these were likely huge sums.

Just a few years after she suffered a very public mental breakdown and was placed under a court-ordered conservatorship, Britney Spears' former bodyguard Fernando Flores accused her of sexual harassment and abusive behavior toward her children in a lawsuit filed in 2010. According to an excerpt published by Radar Online, Flores claimed, among other things, that Spears allegedly repeatedly exposed herself to him while he was on the job and witnessed her "at least twice savagely hitting" her son Preston, who was 5 at the time, using a belt she borrowed from him.

The lawsuit was the second one Spears faced from a former member of her team in as many years after her ex-manager Sam Lutfi earlier sued her and her parents Jamie and Lynne Spears in 2009. He accused the family of breach of contract, libel, and defamation because he allegedly was owed 15% of the singer's earnings, assaulted by Jamie, and falsely portrayed in Lynne's memoir as someone who manipulated and drugged the "Circus" hitmaker.

According to E! News, Spears settled Flores' lawsuit in March 2012, but the terms were never publicized so it's unclear if money changed hands. Lutfi's case against her and her family was dismissed by a judge that same year, but he got a second shot at a trial after appealing. TMZ reported that Spears ended up also settling with her ex-manager for a sum "in the low 6 figures" a month before the trial was scheduled to begin.