Kanye West and Jay-Z, who are now Grammy-Award Winners for "Best Rap Album," were sued on the counts of copyright infringement by Syl Johnson over the track "The Joy". Kanye West, not new to copyright infringement cases due to his "sampling" style of producing, first asked permission to sample Johnson's song for his own album (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy), but wasn't given the respective "go ahead" from Syl Johnson for allowance. Kanye West leaves the un-allowed, finished record off his album. Several months later, Kanye West and Jay-Z make a Hip-Hop album together, Watch The Throne, featuring the deneid track and Syl Johnson sues both artists for copyright infringement for their use of his song "Different Strokes." Both artists (West and Jay-Z) respond by saying that "it doesn't matter if they used Johnson's song on their album, because it was recorded in 1972, and is not protected by copyright laws." Syl Johnson would reply to their statements with the following: "[Kanye] said he wanted to meet with me and apologize -- since I sued him -- but I didn't sue him to be smart...I sued him because that's the right thing to do man. I'm a musician." Alongside this, in the credits of "Watch The Throne" West and Jay-Z are also cited as the publishers of Johnson's "Different Strokes" (giving no credit ot Johnson's idea). Are Johnson's constitutional and First Amendment rights and ideas being infringed or does the sampling of a simple "hmmm" give him a case he can win? The case is currently ongoing.
http://defpenradio.com/kanye-west-jay-z-get-sued-for-copyright-infringement/
http://www.vladtv.com/blog/77663/kanye-jay-z-fight-back-in-copyright-lawsuit/
http://www.vh1.com/news/articles/1669585/watch-the-throne-def-jam-accused-copyright-infringement.jhtml
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