Jay Z has managed to meet the royal family, dodge a lawsuit and set his first fight card – all within 24 hours.
Manhattan federal Judge Lewis Kaplan on Tuesday tossed a lawsuit by NY-based record label TufAmerica Inc. against Hov and his entertainment company alleging that the rap mogul and other industry honchos illegally sampled a late 1960s funk tune without permission for the track “Run This Town.”
Kaplan, in his 15-page ruling, said Jay Z, his company Roc Nation, WB Music Group and others didn’t infringe on the 1969 song “Hook & Sling” when it used a sample of the single-syllable lyric “oh” for the 2009 Jay Z hit that also features Rihanna and Kanye West.
“The word in question — ‘oh’ — is quite common,” Kaplan wrote, according to Page Six. “It appears only once, if it appears at all.”
“The court concludes that … the relevant works bear no substantial similarity to one another,” Kaplan said. “It would be impermissible to conclude that defendants are liable in this case.”
“Run This Town” was released on a track for Jay Z’s albums “The Blueprint 3” and “The Hits Collection Volume One” and as part of a popular music video. The suit sought a court order blocking the defendants from “any further distribution or exploitation” of the song.
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