SAN FRANCISCO, January 09, (THEWILL) – American singer and songwriter, Tracy Chapman, has been awarded a $450,000 copyright infringement settlement offer by Onika Tanya Maraj, more popularly known as Nicki Minaj.
The dispute arose as a result of Nicki Minaj interpolating Chapman’s 1988 song, ‘Baby Can I Hold You,’ into her 2018 song, ‘Sorry.’ This was after Chapman denied a request to approve the sample. Apparently, it is Chapman’s custom to deny such requests.
Although Minaj dropped the song from her album, ‘Queen’, the song had already leaked with Chapman’s voice on it, days after the album’s August 2018 release.
The person who leaked the record, DJ Funkmaster Flex, named Minaj as his source.
Chapman’s lawyers filed a copyright infringement lawsuit some months after. But before the case could go to trial, Minaj had her lawyers make a $450,000 offer, with all costs and attorney fees included in that amount.
Chapman’s attorneys accepted the offer and that was how a copyright infringement trial that could have possibly dragged for years, was averted.
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