A sitting judge in a United States court has ruled in favour of Nicki Minaj in the copyright dispute between her and American singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman.
According to the court judgement, Nicki Minaj did not commit any copyright infringement with her 2017 song “Sorry” featuring Nas.
The U.S. district judge Virginia A. Phillips ruled that Nicki’s experimentation with Tracy Chapman’s “Baby Can I Hold You” constitutes “fair use” and is not copyright infringement.
In her judgement she wrote, “Artists usually experiment with works before seeking licenses from rights holders and rights holders typically ask to see a proposed work before approving a license. A ruling uprooting these common practices would limit creativity and stifle innovation within the music industry.”
Just so you know, Nicki Minaj initially believed her “Sorry” song was a remake of a song created by Shelly Thunder, and was surprised to discover later that most of the lyrics and some of the melody came from Chapman’s “Baby Can I Hold You,” which she released on her debut album in 1988.
Reports also say Nicki’s representatives reached out to Tracy Chapman for permission to use the song, but Tracy repeatedly refused stating in her suit that she has a blanket policy against granting such permission. This led to Nicki’s “Sorry” being dropped from Nicki Minaj’s 2018 album, “Queen.”
A copy of the unreleased track however made its way to a New York radio DJ who played it on the air and the track became widely available online.
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