Somto BisinaObrafour, a renowned musician from Ghana, has filed a lawsuit against Canadian rapper Drake for unauthorized use of his song.
Sampling, or borrowing from other artists’ works, is a common practice in music, but it requires permission to be obtained to avoid copyright infringement.
Obrafour alleges that Drake sampled his song ‘Oye Ohene’ remix in the track ‘Calling My Name’ from Drake’s album ‘Honestly, Nevermind’ released in 2022, without obtaining permission despite being denied earlier.
Copyright infringement has become more prevalent in music due to digitalization making it easier to identify similarities.
This lawsuit follows recent high-profile cases, such as Puff Diddy paying Sting $2,000 a day for illegally sampling his record, and Robin Thicke and Pharell Williams being ordered by the court to pay Marvin Gaye’s estate up to $5 million for sampling his song.
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Similar cases have also emerged in Nigeria, with Danny Young suing Tiwa Savage for sampling his song, and Tempoe taking legal action against Asa and P.Prime for copyright infringement, as well as being sued by Joeboy for the same offense.
Obrafour’s lawyer, Imran Ansari, stated that Obrafour is the rightful owner of the copyright for the song in Ghana and the United States, and Drake’s use of the song was unlawful.
The lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of New York, and Obrafour presented four exhibits to support his ownership claim. Obrafour is seeking several prayers, including damages of not less than $10,000,000, to receive recognition, respect, and compensation for the use of his creative work.
He also aims to send a message to mainstream international artists that they cannot simply take from lesser-known artists or artists from other countries without giving proper credit and compensation.
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