A few months ago we brought up that Kanye and Jay-Z were going to be in a bit a trouble, as they were being sued by soul musician Syl Johnson for illegally sampling his music.
Now they’re responding to that claim:
“Any claim based on the alleged use of Plaintiffs’ recording is is barred because, inter alia, (a) the allegedly copied portion of the Plaintiff’s recording is not part of the musical composition; and, if it is part of the composition, (b) is not protectable and/or (c) any use was de minimus.”
Basically — what they sampled isn’t protectable, and even if it is, it was probably created before the copywriting of sound and thus doesn’t fall under it.
Either way they claim they’re not at fault and aren’t saying whether or not if they were anything past inspired by his work.
We’ll have to wait to see if this goes to court, and if so, who will win!
[Image via WENN.]
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