Judge Throws Out Jay Z and Timbaland “Big Pimpin” Copyright Infringement Case
A U.S. District Judge threw out the “Big Pimpin” copyright infringement case againstJay Z and Timbaland today before it even went to a jury, according to theAP. Judge Christina A. Snyder ruled that the nephew of Baligh Hamdi—the Egyptian musician who made the original song partially sampled on “Big Pimpin”—didn’t have the right to sue either Hov or Timbaland. Both Jay and Timbaland testified in court last week, where they detailed the making of the song and how they used the sample.
The case stems all the way back to 2007 when Hamdi’s nephew, Osama Ahmed Fahmy, sued Hov and Timbo over not having proper permission to sample “Khosara Khosara” on their 1999 hit. During his testimony, Jay said he was unaware of the sample in first place, and also pointed to the liner notes of the CD, which clearly credit “Khosara Khosara.” “At some point there was a claim for it, and it was cleared up,” Jay said. “The rights were granted…we have a license to use the song.”
This was obviously enough for the judge, though today’s ruling apparently came as a surprise to most of the parties involved. We’ll continue to update this story as more details come out.
