If you’re a fan of Jay Z they’re well aware that the he and Timbaland are involved in one of the longest-running active lawsuits in America (#facts). The dispute is over their 1999 classic hit record, “Big Pimpin” off of Hov’s Vol. 3 … Life and Times of S. Carter album. The lawsuit, which was filed in 2007 in California federal court, received a trial date back in March for Oct. 13. and according to published reports, both Jay Z and Timbaland will be testifying in court.
The disagreement stems from Jay and Timb’s sample of Baligh Hamdy’s “Khosara, Khosara” from the 1960 Egyptian film Fata ahlami. Osama Ahmen Fahmy, Hamdy’s nephew, filed a copyright infringement suit against the pair in 2007. According to Faymy, the company that licensed the song to Timbaland—EMI Arabia—did not have the right to do so despite Timbo paying EMI $100,000 for rights to use the sample, presumably settling any plausible infringement issues. Except it didn’t. MI Arabia had a deal with Egyptian record label Sout el Phan, the same label Fahmy licensed “Khosara Khosara” to. This license, however, apparently expired in 2007.
Fahmy is targeting both artist including EMI, Universal Music, Paramount Pictures (over a Jay Z documentary), MTV (over a Jay Z special) and others. Fahmy’s lawyer is arguing Jay and Timbaland “did not enter into valid agreements that ‘expressly and in detail’ — including indicating the range, purpose, and period and place of exploitation — convey the right to use ‘Khosara, Khosara’ in ‘Big Pimpin’.”
Hov will now testify in court, as well as Judith Finell, the musicologist who testified in the “Blurred Lines” trial on behalf of Marvin Gaye’s family. If you’ll recall, the Gaye estate won the $7.3 million lawsuit against Robin Thicke and Pharrell. Whether or not this case has the same fate remains to be seen.
Read both the defendants’ memorandum and the plaintiff’s memorandum where they go into further details regarding the legal dispute.
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