Mitchell Silberberg partner Russell Frackman handled oral arguments at the Ninth Circuit for Jay-Z, rap/metal band Linkin Park, as well as most of the 30-plus defendants in the case. Winston & Strawn’s Michael Elkin argued for the publishers EMI Music Publishing, Ltd. and EMI Blackwood Music Inc.
The appeal stemmed from a 2005 lawsuit brought by Ahab Joseph Nafal who claimed that “Big Pimpin,” violated his copyright interest in the Egyptian composition, “Khosara Khosara,” written by Baligh Hamdi. (Regardless of the merits of the Nafal case, the Egyptian tune might ring familiar to fans of “Big Pimpin.”) Nafal claimed rights to the Egyptian song through an assignment agreement with a third party who allegedly acquired the rights through Hamdi’s heirs.
