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Judge says 50 Cent didn’t steal line on ‘In Da Club’ from 2 Live Crew’s Campbell
By M&C News Oct 28, 2006, 15:13 GMT
50 Cent can rest a little easier now that a U.S. District judge has dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against the rapper by former 2 Live Crew member Luther Campbell concerning a line from 50’s 2003 hit “In Da Club.”
Judge Paul C. Huck handed down his decision on Friday and found that song’s line was "common, unoriginal, and non-copyrightable element of the song" – which made it void of copyright protection.
Huck also decided the song had no similarities between Campbell’s “It’s Your Birthday” (which was on his 1994 solo album ‘Still a Freak for Life’) and 50’s “In Da Club” other than the one line. The phrase is only eleven seconds of the song - which is more than three minutes long.
The lawsuit was filed against 50 Cent (whose real name is Curtis James Jackson) in a Miami federal court in January by Richard C. Wolfe on behalf of Lil’ Joe Wein Music. Lil’ Joe Wein Music owns the copyrights to “It’s Your Birthday” and other work down by Campbell with 2 Live Crew and his solo projects.
The suit claimed that Jackson had only substituted one word (“Sheila” became “shorty” after “go” is said several times) from the opening phrase of Campbell's "It's Your Birthday."
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qjlgOct 31st, 2006 - 16:10:06
50's lawyer was Karen Stetson, Esq. of Miami Beach
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