Three months after Nicki Minaj’s Queen album was reportedly delayed over a sample-clearance issue, the dispute has landed in court. Tracy Chapman’s lawyer tells Billboard that he filed a copyright infringement suit against Minaj in Los Angeles on Monday, Oct. 22, over the unreleased Queen track “Sorry” featuring Nas, which interpolates the lyrics and melody of Chapman’s 1988 track “Baby Can I Hold You.”
“There is no question this is infringement,” says Phillips, senior partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. “If someone asked what Nicki Minaj’s defense is going to be we have no idea.”
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