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50 Cent Clears his Name in Court

Recently, rap star and entertainment star 50 Cent, cleared his name in a US District Court. Judge Paul C. Huck dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit accusing the rapper of stealing the opening line for his major hit ?In Da Club? which was released in 2003. The lawsuit claims that he stole this line from Luther Campbell, the former 2 Live Crew front man. According to the judge, the phrase was a ?common, unoriginal, and non-copyrightable element of the song? and was not deserving of copyright protection.

The judge also commented that outside of the opening phrase, there were virtually no similarities between the two songs, and the average person would not be able to confuse the two songs because of the phrase. The phrase in question represents only eleven seconds of a more than three-minute song. The original lawsuit was filed in Miami federal court in January on behalf of Lil` Joe Wein Music against 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson.

The lawsuit, which was filed by attorney Richard C. Wolfe, said 50 Cent only changed one word from the opening line of Campbell?s song. The name of Campbell?s song, ?It?s Your Birthday? only had one the word ?Sheila? changed to ?shorty?. After repeating the word ?go? several times, ?Sheila? becomes ?shorty? in the line, ?Go shorty, it?s your birthday.? Lil? Joe Wein Music holds the copyright to ?It?s Your Birthday? and other songs Campbell produced with his rap group 2 Live Crew and as a solo artist. It seems this entertainment rap star finally got a break in court.