{"id":2106,"date":"2018-10-28T20:40:02","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T00:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/?p=2106"},"modified":"2023-07-25T11:44:23","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T15:44:23","slug":"sorry-nicki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/2018\/10\/sorry-nicki\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorry, Nicki"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

On Monday, October 22nd, 2018, Tracy Chapman <\/span>slapped Nicki Minaj with a copyright lawsuit<\/span><\/a>. \u00a0<\/span>In her complaint<\/span><\/a>, Chapman alleges that her song \u201cBaby Can I Hold You\u201d was sampled in Minaj’s song entitled \u201cSorry\u201d without Chapman\u2019s permission. \u00a0Beginning in June 2018, Minaj and her representatives made multiple requests to license \u201cBaby Can I Hold You,\u201d which were all denied by Chapman. \u00a0Despite the denials, Minaj leaked \u201cSorry\u201d to Funkmaster Flex, a radio DJ, who then teased the song on social media, and also played the song on the radio on August 11, 2018. \u00a0After Funkmaster Flex played \u201cSorry,\u201d listeners reproduced the allegedly infringing work and published it on multiple websites. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chapman said that Minaj used the \u201cmost recognizable and memorable\u201d portions from \u201cBaby Can I Hold You,\u201d and stated, \u201cThis action is necessary to redress Maraj\u2019s disregard and willful infringement of Chapman\u2019s rights under the Copyright Act, and to ensure that her misconduct is not repeated.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Although Minaj has not made \u201cSorry\u201d available for sale, <\/span>music copyright lawyers believe Chapman has a strong case<\/span><\/a> and that Minaj will probably want to settle. \u00a0<\/span>17 U.S.C. \u00a7 504<\/span><\/a> of the U.S. Code provides that a copyright infringer is liable not only for actual damages, but also statutory damages if a court finds that the infringement was intentional. \u00a0While it may be difficult to calculate actual damages without sales to reference, Chapman\u2019s allegations make a strong case for finding Minaj liable for statutory damages.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c’The elements of copyright infringement are access and substantial similarity,\u2019 <\/span>says Henry Gradstein<\/span><\/a>, who won a $43 million settlement last year against Spotify, on behalf of songwriters. \u2018If they took 50 percent of the composition, they obviously had access to it; if they tried to negotiate a deal and they didn\u2019t get it, that\u2019s copyright infringement 101.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Not only do the choruses of the two songs share similar melodies, but also Minaj repeats identical lyrics from Chapman\u2019s \u201cBaby Can I Hold You.\u201d \u00a0<\/span>Exhibit 1 in Chapman\u2019s complaint<\/span><\/a> is a comparison chart of the lyrics of the two songs that highlights how Minaj\u2019s chorus entirely consists of lyrics taken from Chapman\u2019s composition. \u00a0\u201c\u2018It\u2019s a strong case for Tracy Chapman, because it\u2019s a wholesale lift of the lyric as the centerpiece of Minaj\u2019s track,\u2019 <\/span>says Bill Hochberg<\/span><\/a>, who works with the Bob Marley estate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The lawsuit also alleges that on July 10, 2018, one of Minaj\u2019s representatives emailed a letter to Chapman\u2019s managers, admitting, \u201cIn the song\u2026 [Minaj] has used interpolations from\u201d Chapman\u2019s song. \u00a0Minaj also tweeted multiple times about \u201cSorry\u201d and her licensing issues with Chapman. \u00a0On August 11, 2018, Minaj tweeted, \u201cSis said no\u201d – \u00a0an apparent reference to Chapman\u2019s continued denial of permission. \u00a0Hochberg pointed out that this particular tweet could go over poorly with a jury, since Minaj seemed to have admitted publicly that she knew that Chapman rejected her request. <\/span><\/p>\n

Hochberg says<\/span><\/a>, \u201cOverall it\u2019s an embarrassment for Minaj and the case probably settles quickly with an exchange of money and Chapman retaining her artistic integrity by not allowing the song to be released, and at Queen Minaj\u2019s palace, maybe some wrist slapping or perhaps head rolling in the aftermath.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ashley Park is an Entertainment Highlight Contributor for the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law and a current first year student at Harvard Law School (Class of 2021).<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Image: <\/span>Eva Rinaldi<\/span><\/a> creator QS:P170,Q37885816, <\/span>Nicki Minaj 7, 2012<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>CC BY-SA 2.0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Monday, October 22nd, 2018, Tracy Chapman slapped Nicki Minaj with a copyright lawsuit. \u00a0In her complaint, Chapman alleges that her song \u201cBaby Can I Hold You\u201d was sampled in Minaj’s song entitled \u201cSorry\u201d without Chapman\u2019s permission. \u00a0Beginning in June 2018, Minaj and her representatives made multiple requests to license \u201cBaby Can I Hold You,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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