March 19, 2009

Business Insider –  Lil Wayne Forced To Turn Over Tha Carter III Financial Records

Lil Wayne might need to get himself an attorney who's well versed in clearing music samples, since the rapper now finds himself in another lawsuit over the improper use of one.

He's been ordered to turn over financial records for his multi-platinum album, Tha Carter III, to Urband & Lazar Music Publishing, which is suing him for unlawfully using South African folksinger Karma-Ann Swanepoel's song "Once," on his track, "I Feel Like Dying." The track doesn't appear on the album but Urband and Lazar claim Lil Wayne promoted the CD by performing the song in concert and allowing fans to download it for free on his Web site.

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March 19, 2009

XXLmag.com – Lil Wayne ordered to Turn Over Financial Records in Sample Clearance Case

Lil Wayne is once again the target of a lawsuit regarding sample clearance issues. A federal magistrate ordered the rapper to turn over financial records for his multi-platinum album, Tha Carter III to Urband & Lazar Music Publishing yesterday (March 18), reports the Associated Press.

The publishing company is suing Wayne for his unlawful usage of South African folksinger Karma-Ann Swanepoel’s song “Once,” for his track “I Feel Like Dying.” Although it does not appear on the disc, Urban and Lazar claim in their suit, which they filed last May, that the Grammy-award winning rapper promoted his CD by performing the song in concert and allowing fans to download it for free on his Web site.

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March 19, 2009

KATC.com – Rapper Lil Wayne must turn over financial Records

NEW ORLEANS -- A federal magistrate on Wednesday ordered rapper Lil Wayne to turn over financial records for his Grammy-winning album, "Tha Carter III," to a music publisher accusing him of copyright infringement.

A lawsuit filed in May 2008 claims Lil Wayne didn't have permission to sample folk singer Karma-Ann Swanepoel's song "Once" in his track "I Feel Like Dying."

"I Feel Like Dying" wasn't a track on "Tha Carter III," but a lawyer for Urband and Lazar Music Publishing said Lil Wayne promoted the album by singing that song in concert and allowing fans to download it for free on his Web site.

U.S. Magistrate Daniel Knowles III in New Orleans ruled that Urband and Lazar, which published "Once," is entitled to review records about the sale of "Tha Carter III." Knowles issued a protective order to keep the records under wraps.

"Only experts and attorneys have a right to see it," he said.

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December 18, 2008

The AM Law Daily - Rapper Lil Wayne Wrapped Up in Landmark Copyright Suit

We here at The Am Law Daily have an unabashed affinity for hip hop--we attended the same New York public high school that spawned several members of the Wu-Tang Clan--but two rap-related posts in one week seemed a bit much.
Until, that is, we started delving into the copyright suit between New Orleans-born rapper Lil Wayne (aka Dwayne Carter) and an obscure South African singer named Karma-Ann Swanepoel. The case hit the headlines recently because Lil Wayne's lawyers at Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrère & Denègre asked U.S. district court judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans for more time to turn over documents requested by plaintiffs lawyers.
The case was filed in May by Swanepoel's music label, Los Angeles-based Urband & Lazar Music Publishing. According to the eight-page complaint, Urband & Lazar claims that Lil Wayne and his music label, New Orleans-based Cash Money Records (a division of Universal Music Group), didn't have permission to sample Swanepoel's song "Once" on the rapper's Internet hit "I Feel Like Dying."

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December 17, 2008

E! Online -  Did Lil Wayne Pull A Coldplay?

If things don't go his way, Lil Wayne might feel like crying, if not dying, of shame.
The chart-owning hip-hopster is accused of illicitly lifting the Karma-Ann Swanepoel song "Once" for his 2007 mixtape hit "Feel Like Dying."

The complaint, originally filed last May in federal court in New Orleans, claims Wayne's Cash Money Records entered into negotiations but did not ultimately secure a license to sample the South African artist before "Dying" was released online.
Lawyers for Swanepoel are now demanding the rapper fork over documents that would reveal the income generated by his track. But on Tuesday Wayne's camp filed a motion requesting the deadline be postponed.

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December 17, 2008

Billboard.com - Lil Wayne Accused of Copyright Infringement

Lawyers for rapper Lil Wayne are seeking more time to turn over documents for a lawsuit that accuses the artist of copyright infringement.

A federal lawsuit filed in May claims Lil Wayne didn't have permission to sample Karma Ann Swanepoel's song "Once" in one of his own songs, "I Feel Like Dying."

The suit says Lil Wayne's record label, Cash Money Records, tried but failed to negotiate a license to use Swanepoel's song before millions of people downloaded "I Feel Like Dying."

A court filing yesterday (Dec. 16) by Lil Wayne's attorneys asks a judge in New Orleans to extend a Friday deadline for turning over documents and other material requested by lawyers for Urband & Lazar Music Publishing.

Click Here to Read the Article on Billboard.com

September 3, 2008

LA Weekly - L.A. Music Publisher's Suit Against Lil Wayne Threatens To Rewrite Rules On Mixtapes

For a music born and bred in the streets, hip-hop is no stranger to the courtroom. Built on a bedrock of funk, jazz and soul samples, the genre has consistently pushed at the edges of legality and been shaped by litigation, from 1991’s Grand Upright Music vs. Warner Bros. Records, in which a district court ruled that Biz Markie had to pay for sampling Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again (Naturally),” to 1994’s Campbell vs. Acuff-Rose Music, where the Supreme Court upheld 2 Live Crew’s fair-use rights to parody Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman.”

Once again, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the rule book on sampling and the boundaries of intellectual property are in the process of being redefined, this time thanks to a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court in Louisiana by Los Angeles–based Urband & Lazar Music Publishing. The suit names one of hip-hop’s biggest stars — and the undisputed king of the mixtape — Lil Wayne, as its defendant. At issue is an uncleared sample from a song called “Once,” written by a singer named Karma-Ann Swanepoel. Wayne’s version is called “I Feel Like Dying,” never “officially” released and never offered for sale to the public, but rather given away as a free download. The case not only questions the tenuous legality of mixtapes but also threatens to stymie their recent evolution from back-alley promotional tool to legitimate art form.

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May 29, 2008

TMZ.com - Karma Bites Lil' Wayne in the Butt

A lot of times, when the lil' guy -- in this case, a singer named Karma -- says someone -- Lil' Wayne -- jacked his or her song as a sample and wants to get paid, it's a bogus ploy to score some coin. This is not one of those times.

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