Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Tracy Chapman filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Nicki Minaj in 2018.
After 3 years, a judgment has been made in Minaj and Chapman’s copyright dispute over the female raptress’ sampling of Chapman’s 1988 hit song “Baby Can I Hold You” in her leaked track “Sorry.”
According to documents filed in a California federal court this week, Chapman has accepted a $450,000 offer of judgment that Minaj and her team tendered in December 2020 to avoid a court trial and further litigation. The sum includes all costs and attorney fees related to the case.
Nicki sampled Tracy’s song after she specifically denied her request and then used DJ Funkmaster Flex to release the song on the radio and online while leaving the track off her album.
Minaj argued that her creation of “Sorry,” even without a license from Chapman, was protected by the doctrine of “fair use” — an exception to copyright law that lets creators borrow copyrighted material under certain conditions.