Tracy Chapman Awarded $450,000 in Copyright Case Against Nicki Minaj

Minaj responded to the lawsuit in February 2019. According to Rolling Stone, citing the reaction, Minaj argued the interpolation was guarded by reasonable use. She reportedly claimed Chapman has “not effectively registered her claim to the copyright in the Composition [‘Baby Can I Hold You’].” For each the outlet, she consequently alleged Chapman will not individual the “copyright in concern and thus lacks standing to carry the promises alleged in the Complaint.”

In conditions of the generation of “Sorry,” Minaj’s staff defended it.

“[I]n the process of creation, no one techniques the original songwriter (the ‘rights holder’) for a license to experiment,” Minaj’s court docket brief read through, for each The Hollywood Reporter. “The musicians just experiment. If a little something functions, and the recording artist wants to launch the tune commercially, then the document label, supervisors, and lawyers get associated and find the required authorization. If it is granted, the recording is commercially produced. If permission is denied, the recording is discarded no 1 is harmed and the experimentation begins anew.”

“Recording artists demand this freedom to experiment, and legal rights holders respect the protocol as very well,” the short continued, for each the outlet. “Frequently, the legal rights holder does not want to basically approve a use in the abstract–i.e., ‘any hip hop version of your tune.’ The rights holder would like to hear the genuine variation in advance of giving her permission. The plaintiff in this article, Tracy Chapman, needs to turn this method on its head.”