According to a report from Reuters, Hip-Hop artist Jay-Z, producer Timbaland, and R&B singer Ginuwine won a judgment in Manhattan federal court to dismiss a lawsuit from soul musician Ernie Hines, who claimed that they unlawfully sampled one of his songs from 1969.
U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken on Monday said that Jay-Z's "Paper Chase" and Ginuwine's "Toe 2 Toe," both co-written and produced by Timbaland in the late 1990s, did not violate Hines' rights in his song "Help Me Put Out The Flame (In My Heart)".
According to Reuters Hines' attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the decision. A representative for Warner Music, which is a defendant in the case, declined to comment.
Hines initiated his first lawsuit regarding the music in 2019, contending that they copied part of the introduction to his song. The respondents stated that the part referenced in the lawsuit was not copyright eligible because it was derived from a "stock" musical phrase in a 1914 work, "Mysterioso Pizzicato", that has been utilized in at least 28 other musical creations and become synonymous with movie villains.
Judge Oetken agreed that Hines' song "borrows from a heavily used work that is in the public domain" and "adds only material that is not original enough to be copyrightable."
Oetken also stated that the pertinent elements of Jay-Z and Ginuwine's songs were not similar enough for Hines to prove infringement even if his introduction had been eligible for copyright protection.
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