Biggie & Bad Boy Sued

(Originally posted on Late Nite Noise)

Well, it had been a good few months for Diddy and Bad Boy Records. His "Making The Band 3" did phenomenally in the ratings along with his other show, "Run's House" (he produces it) on cable network MTV. He dropped Black Rob's 2nd album to critical acclaim, and just this past week The Notorious B.I.G.'s Duets: The Final Chapter had huge 1st week sales of well over 400,000. Not to mention he finally settled the publishing situation with ex-Bad Boy members The Lox. Life was good - what could go wrong?

A lawsuit - that's what.

Bad Boy Records, the estate of The Notorious B.I.G. and Universal Records, which distributed Ready To Die, are all currently being sued for samples used on he late rapper's debut album. Bridgeport Music, Inc. and sister company Westbound Records have launched a copyright infringement lawsuit for samples used on the late rapper's 1994 classic album. The suit says Biggie, Bad Boy, and Universal Records never received permission for samples used on "Machine Gun Funk", "Gimme The Loot" and "Ready To Die".

"Ready to Die" and "Gimme the Loot" used samples from the Ohio Players' "Singing In The Morning," and "Machine Gun Funk" used a sample from the Horny Horns' "Up For The Down Stroke." Bridgeport owns the copyright for both compositions.

Lawyers for both sides met before a U.S. District Court Magistrate in Nashville, Tennessee last week on a defense motion to dismiss some legal claims before trial. The trial is being held there seeing as both sides' legal teams are based in Tennessee and both sides have business interests there.

Bad Boy and Universal's legal team maintains that Bad Boy had the proper licenses to record the songs and adds that Westport has no federal copyright claim to the song "Singing In The Morning." The sound recording for that song appears to have been copyrighted in 1971, before sound recordings were granted federal copyright protection.

The prosecution refutes that claim and is also seeking damages under state laws in Michigan and Tennessee that he says apply. As of Tuesday (December 27), the Magistrate had not ruled on the motions, which also seek to dismiss Universal as a defendant.

Bridgeport and Westbound, both owned by Armen Boladian, own the rights to hundreds of popular 1970s funk recordings. Since 2001, Bridgeport has filed over 400 lawsuits - 477 to be exact - against music and entertainment companies claiming copyright infringement.

Since Ready To Die has sold over 4 million copies, both parties have a lot at stake in this lawsuit. The three cases involving Ready To Die would be the first Bridgeport cases to reach jury trial. Most have been settled and a few dismissed.

"Mo' money, mo' problems', huh Puff?




- by the god Dirty Backpacks
Late Nite Noise