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17 April 2015Copyright

One less problem for Jay-Z as US court rejects copyright claim

Music label Roc-A-Fella Records and rapper Shawn Carter, also known as Jay-Z, have successfully fended off a copyright claim from a sound engineer they once worked with.

Chauncey Mahan demanded in July 2014 that he be recognised as a joint copyright owner on three albums produced by the label.

But Judge Lorna Schofield at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the lawsuit on Wednesday (April 15).

Schofield said that the time to make such a claim had elapsed between the copyright being registered in 2000 and the lawsuit being filed in 2014.

Under the US Copyright Act, a lawsuit has to be filed within three years of the work being registered, provided there were reasonable grounds for a claimant to discover any alleged infringement.

The case concerned 41 recordings that Mahan worked on during his time working for the record company, between August 1999 and November 2000.

Of those recordings, 31 were used on two albums produced by Jay-Z, Vol 3...Life and Times of S. Carter, and The Dynasty: Roc La Familia.

The other 10 were used on an album produced by musician Beanie Sigel for his album The Truth.

Roc-A-Fella registered copyright for all three albums with the US Copyright Office in 2000.

In her judgment, Schofield said that Mahan would have a reasonable awareness of any alleged injury because the three albums were a “commercial success” and that the absence of royalties being paid to him should have given him reason to know of any injury.

Mahan could not be reached for comment. Roc-A-Fella did not respond to a request for comment.

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