Jay-Z and Timbaland appear in court accused for copyright infringement in their 1999 song 'Big Pimpin'

Jay-Z and Timbaland  both appear in court on Tuesday for the first day of a copyright infringement trial regarding their 1999 song Big Pimpin'. 

The rappers have been accused of misusing music from the popular 1957 love ballad Khosara Khosara by Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi. 

 

Attorney Pete Ross, who is representing the heirs to Hamdi's estate, accused Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, and Timbaland of lacing vulgar lyrics over Hamdi's melody without receiving adequate permission.  

The song was Released on Jay Z’s fourth album: Vol 3…Life And Times of S. Carter, the track opens with a flute sample from Hamdi's ballad as the rapper declares: ‘It's big pimpin', baby’.

But Carter's lyrics aren't at issue in the case, and lawyers for the rappers say they secured the appropriate rights to feature Khosara Khosara on Big Pimpin'.

Christine Lepera, who is representing Timbaland, told jurors that he initially used elements of Hamdi's work thinking it was royalty-free, but later secured the appropriate rights.

Jay-Z paid record label EMI Arabia, which said it had rights over Khosara, Khosara, $100,000 in 2001 for the rappers' use of the music and the payout was shared with Hamdi's descendants.

Osama Ahmed Fahmy, the composer's heir and nephew, filed a lawsuit in US court in 2007 claiming that the deal was irrelevant under Egyptian law.