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Tracy Chapman Sues Nicki Minaj For Copyright Infringement

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Tracy Chapman, has been reported by Billboard to have filed a copyright infringement suit against Nicki Minaj in Los Angels on Monday over the unreleased Queen track “Sorry” featuring Nas.

The song “Sorry” was reported to have borrowed lyrics and melody from Chapman’s 1988 track “Baby Can I Hold You”

Tracy Chapman very much protects her rights and she has a right to deny a license when requested,” said Chapman’s longtime attorney, Lee Phillips to Billboard, adding that Chapman has received potentially “hundreds” of requests over the decades to sample or interpolate her music and that, as far as he knows, she has never granted a single one.

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The step is coming three months after Nicki delayed the release of her album stating that she had yet to clear the single with Chapman, she even called on her fans to troll Chapman on social media and force her to accept.

New York DJ Funkmaster Flex teased Nicki on social media that she had given him the album without the single inside.

Funklex played the song on Hot 97 and it quickly spread across the Internet.

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This action is necessary to redress Maraj’s disregard and willful infringement of Chapman’s rights under the Copyright Act, and to ensure that her misconduct is not repeated,” the suit reads.

Because “Sorry” clearly “incorporates the lyrics and vocal melody of the Composition, its most recognizable and memorable parts,” comprising “approximately half the Infringing Work,

without authorization, Phillips was forced to file the suit on his client’s behalf once the song was played on the radio; the suit notes that “on or around” July 16, 2018, Chapman’s business managers informed Minaj’s team that they would not grant consent to use the song.

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The lawsuit seeks to restrain Minaj for “copying or otherwise using or exploiting the Infringing Work” and to prevent third parties from doing so, as well as damages for Chapman from any profit Minaj makes from the track.

There is no question this is infringement,” says Phillips, senior partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. “If someone asked what Nicki Minaj’s defense is going to be we have no idea.”