50 CENT WINS ‘IN DA CLUB’ LAWSUIT

(VIDEO) 50 Cent wins lawsuit over ‘In Da Club’……

Rapper 50 Cent won an important legal victory on Friday, October 27th, when U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck threw out a copyright infringement lawsuit that was brought against the rapper by Joseph Weinberger and Lil’ Joe Wein Music Company, the owners of Luke’s catalogue. The lawsuit alleged that 50 Cent stole the chorus of “In Da Club,” whose lyrics are “Go shorty, it’s your birthday,” from Luke’s song, “It’s Your Birthday.” Judge Huck ruled that the chorus was a “common, unoriginal, and noncopyrightable element of the song” and therefore cannot be protected.

50 Cent’s manager Chris Lighty said, “We are pleased by the clarity brought by U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck by proclaiming what 50 and his team always knew was a frivolous and money grubbing attempt by the Lil’ Joe Wein Music Company. We are also pleased that we were able to defend a lesser known part of the case [the words] ‘I like it, I love it’ as a phrase non-copyrightable.”

“It ain’t always peaches and cream, you know, it’s some real f’ed up people out there that see an individual like myself you know build this empire, build this catalogue and then they want to steal it. You know ain’t did no work for it and then they try to mislead the public by saying Luke is suing 50 Cent. 2 Live Crew is suing this one here and there when they should just go out and say, ‘I’m suing him. I’m the one who stole the catalogue and I’m suing him.'”

Joseph Weinberger was Luke’s attorney and former chief financial officer for Luke Records. Luke shared his thoughts on Weinberger. He said,