Why did the Marvin Gaye estate versus Pharrell lawsuit go to jury trial, but the judge refused to let the jury decide the “Big Pimpin” case? In the USA legal system, you must have “standing” to sue. That means only those with a direct stake in the outcome of a lawsuit or in the overturning of a law can file a lawsuit. Even though Timbaland sampled the wicked flute from “Khosara Khosara,” written by Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi, without paying Hamdi or his family, Judge Christina Synder ruled that Hamdi’s nephew, Osama Fahmy, did not have standing to file the lawsuit.
Hamdi died in 1993. “Big Pimpin” was released in 2000. In 2002, Fahmy sold the rights to “Khosara Khosara” to record label Sout El Phan. Fahmy filed lawsuit against Jay Z and Timbaland in 2007. Jay Z and Timbaland’s lawyers successfully argued that Fahmy gave up his rights to the song when he sold it to Sout El Phan records.
Fahmy claimed that Egyptian “Moral Law” which prohibits someone from changing or altering the author’s music in violation of the author’s moral rights, should be applied and “Big Pimpin” is an immoral song. The judge replied: “Fahmy lacked standing to pursue his claim…It will not be necessary to submit to the jury whether “Big Pimpin” infringed “Khosara Khosara.” The moral of this story is the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
One love,
Aria