Jay-Z and Kanye West have responded to the alleged copyright infringement lawsuit that they were hit with back in October, where soul artist Syl Johnson claims the duo had sampled his song Different Strokes without his permission. His publishing company had given Kanye the nod to use it for a track on his last studio album, but he ended up using it on the collaboration Watch The Throne with Jay-Z instead.
Yeezy and Jay-Z have filed papers in response to the suit. They’ve challenged the legality of the claim, pointing out that the song Different Strokes was made in 1967 and sound recordings were only (automatically) protected by copyright laws from 1972. And even then, the song has been sampled by over 90 songs, often without Johnson’s knowledge.
It might stand that West has the correct permission due to the previous negotiations to use the sample, but The Numero Group (Johnson’s Publisher) were not even paid the royalties for the initial agreement to use it on his studio release.
Kanye West will be out here on the Big Day Out 2012 line-up next year.
