Beyonce Knowles Wins Appeal for Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

Beyonce Knowles Wins Appeal for Copyright Infringement Lawsuit 1/2/08

Beyoncé Wins Appeal for Copyright Infringement Lawsuit on 'Baby Boy' Hit Song

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Upholds Decision in Unsubstantiated Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Filed Against Beyoncé

HOUSTON, TX -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 01/02/08 -- On December 21, 2007 the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the 2006 trial court decision dismissing a copyright infringement lawsuit brought against Beyoncé and the co-authors of the Grammy® Award-winning, number one hit song "Baby Boy."

In response to the appellate court's decision, Beyoncé said, "It's unfortunate that we had to endure this long legal process but I am hopeful this decision will allow all of us that were involved to finally move on."

The plaintiff, Jennifer Armour, asserted in the lawsuit that her former manager submitted demo recordings of a song to Mathew Knowles (President, Music World Entertainment), representatives of Beyoncé's record label Columbia Records, a division of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, and others, in late February or early March 2003. She discovered in the litigation, however, that the writing and recording of "Baby Boy" was substantially complete before Armour claimed to have submitted her demo recording.

The trial court dismissed the plaintiff's case because, the court determined, no reasonable person could conclude that the two songs sounded substantially similar to one another. The appellate court did not reach that question, but instead upheld the dismissal of the case on the grounds that "Baby Boy" was in existence before Armour allegedly submitted her demos.

Defendants named in the lawsuit included Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Scott Storch, Robert Waller, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Hitco Music Publishing, TVT Music, and Notting Dale Songs, all of whom were represented by Henry ("Hank") J. Fasthoff, IV of Stumpf Farrimond.