Cameo Clips

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California denied a motion by a copyright infringement plaintiff that asked that hip-hop artist Jay-Z and his co-defendants be held in contempt for in general failing to respond to the plaintiff's discovery requests regarding concert revenues. Fahmy v. Jay-Z, 07-5715. Osama Ahmed Fahmy claims Jay-Z's song “Big Pimpin'” infringes on the composition “Khosara” by Fahmy's deceased uncle, Egyptian artist Baligh Hamdy. Fahmy had earlier moved for a summary judgment ruling that an infringement award could include Jay-Z concert revenues as direct profits, rather than indirect profits.

In a December 2011 ruling on the motion, District Judge Christina A. Snyder had concluded: “The Court reserves judgment as to whether plaintiff is able to prove the requisite causal nexus. The Court therefore DENIES plaintiff's motion for an order specifying that concert revenues are recoverable as a matter of law. However, defendants are directed to respond to discovery requests that go to both the manner of advertising concerts as well as the revenues derived therefrom.” Fahmy v. Jay-Z, 835 F. Supp. 2d 783 (C.D.Calif. 2011).