Jay Z has asked for his finances to not be included in the evidence for the lawsuit against the Rap mogul and Timbaland, who helped create “Big Pimpin'” in 1999, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In 2007, Osama Ahmed Fahmy filed the suit, which goes to trial October 13. He claims that the rapper and producer illegally used a sample of his late uncle’s song, “Khosara Khosara,” in “Big Pimpin’.” Jay Z and Timbaland will testify in court.
Jay Z’s lawyer, Andrew Bart, says that his client’s financial status is irrelevant to the case and would bias the jury. Forbes reported earlier this year that the rapper is worth $550 million.
“There is no conceivable reason that Defendants’ wealth or financial resources would make it more or less likely that they infringed Plaintiff’s supposed copyright in Khosara,” the court documents say. “Nor is it relevant to Plaintiff’s claim for lost profits; indeed, the Ninth Circuit has squarely held that courts may not determine the amount of lost profits by looking to a defendant’s ‘overall gross revenue, without regard to the infringement.”
Fahmy and his representatives say that Jay Z’s wealth is key to the context of the case.
“For example, compare two hypothetical infringers of a plaintiff’s copyright in a film,” they wrote. “One is a peasant living in a remote area of Russia. The other is a billion-dollar film studio. A reasonable juror may find that, because of the peasant’s ‘financial condition,’ the limited steps he took to ensure he was not infringing were reasonable, whereas the same steps taken by the film studio were consistent with a finding of recklessness or willful blindness. The infringers’ respective ‘financial conditions’ would be highly relevant to whether they exercised due care in ensuring they were not infringing upon the plaintiff’s copyright.”
For additional Jay Z coverage, watch the following DX Daily:
The only people who hate Jay-Z are people who hate seeing a man with more money than themselves.
Hate?in the words of Macauley caulkin*….i don’t think so*Jay was my 2nd favorite rapper after pac*once I found out about his sellout ass 6 yrs ago I said fuck him*who cares about his/our monopoly money*it’s fake nothing to back it*so do me a favor & stop defending someone who has no clue ur ass exist*long Liv the 80s & 90*
Imma beat this dead horse haha*people like u are repulsive*it’s about the lyrics & message*like Talib kweli new joint*fuck the money*sit ur herb ass down*especially the 50 fans*always coming to the defense of another man’s pocket*turrible*
The only thing he does exceptionally well within the rap game is business strategy. His lyrics are simple and basic. Straight up boring to Hip-Hop heads. His music just doesn’t have much playback value at all. It’s so simple you get the point right away and move on.
Listen to he song, they stole the melody
I’m not a Jay fan.
Yet his total worth has nothing to do with it.
The only numbers that should matter is the int they made off the song.
He only gets a percentage of that.
I’m not a Jay fan. Yet his total worth has nothing to do with it.
The only numbers that should matter is the money they made off the song and a percentage of what the album did.
Nothing more. Nothing less.
So homie shouldn’t be paid off creating the beat for Jay’s biggest hit? Oh and apparently it doesn’t matter that the guys who ripped it off are easily worth a billion? Break the broke dude off a milli and call it a day.