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A jury in Houston Federal Court has found rapper Lil' Flip and Sony BMG Music Entertainment guilty of willful copyright infringement.
Lil' Flip (real name Wesley Eric Weston) was sued in Nov. 2004 for alleged unauthorized use of three melodies on his major label debut, Undaground Legend.
The lawsuit, filed in Federal Court in the Southern District of Texas, claimed that the melodies were the creation of Tommy L. Granville, a songwriter and music producer based out of Shreveport, Louisiana.
The jury verdict found that Suckafree Records, Lil' Flip, his manager Estelle Douglass Hobbs, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Columbia Records, Loud Records, Lucky Publishing and Hobbs Publishing willfully violated the copyrighted music of Tommy Granville, when the Defendants included it on Lil' Flip's platinum-selling CD, Undaground Legend.
The lawsuit sought $1.5 million in damages and an unspecified amount for alleged willful infringement of Granville's copyrights.
The Houston jury awarded Granville $150,000, the maximum statutory damages under the law.
Magistrate Judge Stacy also fined Sony $12,000 for their failure to adhere to the court's orders to turn over financial documents.
"We're very pleased that the jury agreed that Tommy Granville's music was illegally taken by these Defendants," Scott Hemingway, attorney for the plaintiff, told AllHipHop.com. "Sony is one of the world's biggest enforcers of its copyright rights and it files 1000's of copyright infringement lawsuits against Internet file-sharers to protect its rights. It is nice to see the jury tell Sony and the other Defendants that they should respect the copyrights of others the same way they want their own copyright rights respected."
In a separate action in Sept. 2004, NamCo America sued the same set of defendants for copyright infringement over Lil' Flip's hit song, "Game Over."
In that lawsuit filed in US District Court, Southern District of New York, Namco alleged that their copyright was infringed upon when sounds from the game "Pac-Man" and "Ms. Pac-Man" were included on "Game Over" and its remix.
That suit was settled prior to going to trial.
Source: allhiphop.com
Lil' Flip (real name Wesley Eric Weston) was sued in Nov. 2004 for alleged unauthorized use of three melodies on his major label debut, Undaground Legend.
The lawsuit, filed in Federal Court in the Southern District of Texas, claimed that the melodies were the creation of Tommy L. Granville, a songwriter and music producer based out of Shreveport, Louisiana.
The jury verdict found that Suckafree Records, Lil' Flip, his manager Estelle Douglass Hobbs, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Columbia Records, Loud Records, Lucky Publishing and Hobbs Publishing willfully violated the copyrighted music of Tommy Granville, when the Defendants included it on Lil' Flip's platinum-selling CD, Undaground Legend.
The lawsuit sought $1.5 million in damages and an unspecified amount for alleged willful infringement of Granville's copyrights.
The Houston jury awarded Granville $150,000, the maximum statutory damages under the law.
Magistrate Judge Stacy also fined Sony $12,000 for their failure to adhere to the court's orders to turn over financial documents.
"We're very pleased that the jury agreed that Tommy Granville's music was illegally taken by these Defendants," Scott Hemingway, attorney for the plaintiff, told AllHipHop.com. "Sony is one of the world's biggest enforcers of its copyright rights and it files 1000's of copyright infringement lawsuits against Internet file-sharers to protect its rights. It is nice to see the jury tell Sony and the other Defendants that they should respect the copyrights of others the same way they want their own copyright rights respected."
In a separate action in Sept. 2004, NamCo America sued the same set of defendants for copyright infringement over Lil' Flip's hit song, "Game Over."
In that lawsuit filed in US District Court, Southern District of New York, Namco alleged that their copyright was infringed upon when sounds from the game "Pac-Man" and "Ms. Pac-Man" were included on "Game Over" and its remix.
That suit was settled prior to going to trial.
Source: allhiphop.com