Issues Keep ‘Big Pimpin’ ’ Infringement Suit Alive

Factual issues remain in the copyright infringement case involving Jay-Z’s 2000 hit “Big Pimpin’ ” as to ownership of rights in the song “Khosara, Khosara,” the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California said May 27 while denying the plaintiff’s request for summary judgment (Fahmy v. Jay-Z, 2015 BL 166749, C.D. Cal., 2:07-cv-05715, 5/27/15).

Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi co-wrote the song “Khosara, Khosara” some time around 1957. Hamdi transferred “some rights” to the song in a 1968 agreement with Egyptian record company Sout el Phan. Hamdi’s heirs—including the plaintiff in the present case, Osama Ahmed Fahmy—“confirmed the ...