Dr Dre in DVD court battle

Dr Dre did not attend the court hearing on Monday

Lawyers for US rapper Dr Dre have asked a judge in Flint, Michigan to dismiss a legal action concerning video footage filmed at a concert in July 2000.

Three former Detroit City employees were filmed arguing boisterously with some of Dr Dre's representatives.

The trio are suing Dr Dre, Time Warner Inc and Best Buy Co claiming they were unaware that the footage would be used in a documentary released in 2002.

Dr Dre - real name Andre Young - was not at Monday's court hearing.

The action is centred on a concert at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena on 6 July 2000 which formed part of Dr Dre's Up in Smoke tour, also featuring fellow rapper Eminem.

The footage in question records a conversation between tour organisers and Detroit city officials that took place after Dr Dre was forced to drop two sexually explicit videos from his act.

Former Mayoral spokesman Greg Bowens, Paula Bridges and Gary Brown claim a camera and a microphone was used to record the meeting without their knowledge.

Their attorney, Glenn Oliver, says they did not authorise their subsequent appearance in the 2002 documentary Detroit Controversy.

But the defendant's legal team told the Detroit Free Press that all involved knew that cameras were rolling.

Time Warner is being named in the action because it distributed and marketed the DVD and Best Buy is named because it sold the DVD.

Dr Dre subsequently sued the city of Detroit in 2000, who apologised for infringing his free speech rights and paid him $25,000 (£13,288).