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Photo: Francis Specker/CBSA federal judge has ruled that a relative of an Egyptian musician whose music was sampled on Jay Z’s 1999 hit “Big Pimpin” doesn’t have the legal right to sue Jay Z and Timbaland for copyright infringement, ending the case against the pair before it could go to trial.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Judge Christina A. Snyder ruled that the nephew of Baligh Hamdi — the Egyptian musician who made “Khosara Khosara,” the original song sampled on “Big Pimpin” — didn’t have the right to evoke sue in U.S. court by invoking Egyptian law.
“My client is pleased with and feels vindicated by the decision,” said Jay Z’s attorney, Andrew Bart. Keith Wesley, an attorney for the nephew,
The case has been ongoing since 2007. Jay and Timbaland had argued that they had properly acquired the rights to the sample, paying EMI Music Arabia a $100,000 fee. Fahmy argued that the pair also ought to have acquired the permission of Hamdi’s family under Egyptian law.
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