Lil’ Flip/Sony BMG Music Found Guilty Of Copyright Infringement.
January 30th, 2006 | By Administrator
A jury in Houston Federal Court has found rapper Lil’ Flip and Sony BMG Music Entertainment guilty of willful copyright infringement.
Lil’ Flip (real name Wesley Eric Weston) was sued in Nov. 2004 for alleged unauthorized use of three melodies on his major label debut, Undaground Legend.
The lawsuit, filed in Federal Court in the Southern District of Texas, claimed that the melodies were the creation of Tommy L. Granville, a songwriter and music producer based out of Shreveport, Louisiana.
The jury verdict found that Suckafree Records, Lil’ Flip, his manager Estelle Douglass Hobbs, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Columbia Records, Loud Records, Lucky Publishing and Hobbs Publishing willfully violated the copyrighted music of Tommy Granville, when the Defendants included it on Lil’ Flip’s platinum-selling CD, Undaground Legend.
The lawsuit sought $1.5 million in damages and an unspecified amount for alleged willful infringement of Granville’s copyrights.
The Houston jury awarded Granville $150,000, the maximum statutory damages under the law.
Magistrate Judge Stacy also fined Sony $12,000 for their failure to adhere to the court’s orders to turn over financial documents.
“We’re very pleased that the jury agreed that Tommy Granville’s music was illegally taken by these Defendants,” Scott Hemingway, attorney for the plaintiff, told AllHipHop.com. “Sony is one of the world’s biggest enforcers of its copyright rights and it files 1000′s of copyright infringement lawsuits against Internet file-sharers to protect its rights. It is nice to see the jury tell Sony and the other Defendants that they should respect the copyrights of others the same way they want their own copyright rights respected.”
In a separate action in Sept. 2004, NamCo America sued the same set of defendants for copyright infringement over Lil’ Flip’s hit song, “Game Over.”
In that lawsuit filed in US District Court, Southern District of New York, Namco alleged that their copyright was infringed upon when sounds from the game “Pac-Man” and “Ms. Pac-Man” were included on “Game Over” and its remix.
That suit was settled prior to going to trial.
i knew lil flip was a bitch i cant belive he was talkin shit bout t.i look at his ho ass stealin beats um um um thats a damn shame all u got 2 do iz watch beef 3 then u can tell that nigga a bitch FUCK LIL FLIP
Well digorno or what ever the fuck Flip is gettin punked by some bitch who wanted money, its bicthes like you who cause people to plexx.
LIL FLIP WEAK ASS KNOW ONLY WAY HE CAN MAKE A HIT IS TO STEAL PEOPLE BEATS HE A FUCK BOY WHO NEED TO GET HIS SHIT TOGETHER HE ALREADY AINT MAKIN NO MONEY HE CANT AFFORD TO BE LOSIN IT IN A MINUTE HE GON BORROW MONEY FROM T.I.
fuck all yall
lil flip anytime u come too ny,come check me out daddy… and if u ever go broke I’ll still love u
Why yall hatin on lil flip he doin his own thing. Yall opinion doesn’t even really matter cuz you can’t do what flip do. T.I. is still the KING OF THE SOUTH no doubt. T.I. is just doing the same thing 50 cent did to ja rule, putting flip ass out of business.
Fuck who ever on a dis issue about Flip, suck a nigga dick.S.U.C, and Down South Texan for life on you bitches and hoes.Reppin DAT DIRTY DALLAS TEXAS
fuck all ya’ll talking about lilflip.he rep houston to the fullest yall hoes just mad that he on the come up .t.i.ain’t the shit.flip still got money any way it goes so kiss hes azz.h-town stand up a-town stay down bitch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FUCK ALL DA NIGGAZ DAT HATIN ON THE KING OF THE DERRTY DERRTY MAN HE WAS FUCKIN WIT SCREW WHEN TI OR IT OR PCS WHATEVA DA LIL NIGGA WAS JUST A BITCH PROBABLY STEALN IN DA STREETS WATCH THE DJ SCREW DOCUMENTARY HE DA KING MAN SCREWED UP CLICK SO FUCK THAT NIGGA TI WHAT TI U A BITCH YAH S.U.C.