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Judge Clears 50 Cent Of Copyright Infringement
A copyright infringement lawsuit accusing 50 Cent of stealing lyrics for "In Da Club" from 2 Live Crew's Luther "Uncle Luke" Campbell, was dismissed by a Florida judge on Friday (October 27).
The lawsuit was filed in January by attorney Richard C. Wolfe on behalf of Lil' Joe Wein Music. The suit charged that 50 only changed the word "Sheila" from the opening line of Campbell's song "It's Your Birthday," to "shorty," in the line, "go shorty, it's your birthday."
According to The Washington Post, Judge Paul C. Huck handed down his decision saying that the song's line was "common, unoriginal, and non-copyrightable element of the song" - which made it void of copyright protection.
Huck also decided the song had no similarities between Campbell's "It's Your Birthday" (which was on his 1994 solo album Still a Freak for Life) and 50's "In Da Club" other than the one line. The phrase is only eleven seconds of the song - which is more than three minutes long.
50 Cent's publicist had no comment when reached, while Richard Wolfe and Lil Joe Wein Music did not return calls.
In related news, 50 is currently assisting LL Cool J on his new Def Jam LP. 50 will serve as an executive producer on the album , which will be LL's last on the Def Jam label, the only recording home the Queens-bred rapper has ever known.
The album, tentatively titled Todd Smith Pt.2: Back To Cool, is slated for release on March 6th.
Source: sohh.com
The lawsuit was filed in January by attorney Richard C. Wolfe on behalf of Lil' Joe Wein Music. The suit charged that 50 only changed the word "Sheila" from the opening line of Campbell's song "It's Your Birthday," to "shorty," in the line, "go shorty, it's your birthday."
According to The Washington Post, Judge Paul C. Huck handed down his decision saying that the song's line was "common, unoriginal, and non-copyrightable element of the song" - which made it void of copyright protection.
Huck also decided the song had no similarities between Campbell's "It's Your Birthday" (which was on his 1994 solo album Still a Freak for Life) and 50's "In Da Club" other than the one line. The phrase is only eleven seconds of the song - which is more than three minutes long.
50 Cent's publicist had no comment when reached, while Richard Wolfe and Lil Joe Wein Music did not return calls.
In related news, 50 is currently assisting LL Cool J on his new Def Jam LP. 50 will serve as an executive producer on the album , which will be LL's last on the Def Jam label, the only recording home the Queens-bred rapper has ever known.
The album, tentatively titled Todd Smith Pt.2: Back To Cool, is slated for release on March 6th.
Source: sohh.com