Jay-Z, Timbaland Must Face Singer’s Copyright Suit, Judge Says

Jay-Z, Timbaland, and music publishers BMG Rights Management (US) LLC and W Chappell Music Corp. must face a 1960s soul singer’s copyright lawsuit alleging they incorporated elements of his song into two hip-hop songs without his permission, a federal judge in Manhattan ruled.

Judge J. Paul Oetken, in an opinion issued Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, rejected the defendants’ argument that the alleged copying doesn’t qualify as infringement because the three-measure guitar riff that opens Ernie Hines’ “Help Me Put Out the Flame (In My Heart)” isn’t a substantial portion of the ...