Jay Z is seeking a delay in the trial over the rights to the sample used in “Big Pimpin'” because he says the plaintiff is being unfair by not attending the trial, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The trial is scheduled to proceed October 13 and the Rap mogul will be defending himself.
Osama Ahmed Fahmy filed the suit in 2007 for copyright infringement of his uncle’s song, “Khosara, Khosara.” Fahmy says that Jay Z and producer Timbaland‘s claims that they legally cleared the sample are null and void under Egyptian law, the country where the song was first created.
Fahmy reportedly will not be attending the trial, which caused Jay Z’s legal team to file the request Friday (October 2).
“Plaintiff’s eleventh-hour gambit is an obvious attempt to avoid cross-examination at trial,” the defendants’ legal brief says. “It should not be sanctioned by this Court.”
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Fahmy reportedly presented the defense with a “note ostensibly from a doctor in Egypt, yet written in English,” the documents say. “Shockingly, the note is dated September 13, 2015 — three days before the September 16, 2015 pretrial conference. It states vaguely that Mr. Fahmy has a heart condition, that he is ‘currently’ unstable and that he cannot ‘travel by airplane for long distance.’ The note indicates that the Plaintiff’s condition is longstanding — there is no indication of new or recent changes which affect his ability to travel.”
In lieu of attending the trial, Fahmy will be presenting his testimony via a six-year-old deposition.
Jay Z is seeking the delay in order to force Fahmy to testify in person or prevent the deposition from being used in trial.
Jay Z has asked for his personal finances to be withheld from the evidence used in the trial for fear it would bias the jury.
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