Kanye West filed lawsuit over unauthorised sample on “Flowers”

• Kanye West has been sued over an unauthorised sample that appears on ‘Flowers’ Chicago house artist Marshall Jefferson’s publisher, Ultra International Music Publishing, (UIMP) filed a complaint.
• The lawsuit claims that Ye sampled Jefferson’s song ‘Move Your Body’ without permission.
• In addition to the maximum statutory fines of $150,000 per infringement, UIMP is requesting that West discontinue distribution of “Flowers,” profits, and damages of an amount to be established at trial.

Kanye West has been sued over an unauthorised sample that appears on ‘Flowers’, a track that features on the rapper’s latest album, ‘Donda 2’.

According to sources, Chicago house artist Marshall Jefferson’s publisher, Ultra International Music Publishing, filed a complaint in a federal court in New York on Wednesday (June 29). (UIMP).

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The lawsuit claims that Ye sampled “Move Your Body” by Jefferson, commonly known as “House Music Anthem,” from 1986 without authorization or payment for doing so. According to UIMP, “Move Your Body” is “repeated at least 22 times” in “Flowers.”

West admitted to both Jefferson and UIMP that he had sampled the music without permission, the lawsuit claims. “Despite this acknowledgement, West has not ceased distribution of ‘Flowers.’ Defendants’ conduct is willful and deliberate,” the filing reads.

“Defendants know and have been informed that they do not possess a license to utilize the Composition in the Unauthorized Work, and yet continue to willfully infringe in blatant disregard of UIMP’s rights of ownership.”

In addition to the maximum statutory fines of $150,000 per infringement, UIMP is requesting that West discontinue distribution of “Flowers,” profits, and damages of an amount to be established at trial.

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Even though his music h as “been sampled thousands of times,” according to Jefferson, there is “a right way and a wrong way to go about it.” He continued by expressing disappointment that West, “a fellow Chicagoan” and “a Black artist,” would sample his work without his consent.

Ye has had legal issues relating to uncleared samples many times before. Bishop David Paul Moten, a Texas-based preacher, filed a lawsuit against the rapper in May of this year, alleging that the rapper had unlawfully sampled one of his sermons on the ‘Donda’ tune ‘Come To Life. In addition, Ye faced legal action over the usage of samples on two of his “Yeezus” singles, “New Slaves” in 2016 and “Bound 2” in 2013. Both lawsuits were confidentially resolved.