A U.S. appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit that accused Drake of copyright infringement.
James Oscar Smith's estate had alleged Drake violated the copyright by sampling a 1982 spoken-word recording, "Jimmy Smith Rap," in his own work, "Pound Cake/Paris Morton Music 2," a track from the 2013 album Nothing Was the Same.
The second Circuit Court of Appeals Monday affirmed the 2017 judgement of a lower court judge, who had said the sampling of Smith's recording was a "fair use" under U.S. copyright law.
The judgment also determined "Pound Cake" didn't "usurp demand" for Smith's track or "otherwise cause a negative market effect."
"The message of the 'Jimmy Smith Rap' is one about the supremacy of jazz to the derogation of other types of music, which-unlike jazz-will not last," the summary of the judges reads. "On the other hand, 'Pound Cake' sends a counter message-that it is not jazz music that reigns supreme, but rather all 'real music,' regardless of genre."
It added, "Through both the alteration of the 'Jimmy Smith Rap' and the rest of the rap's lyrics, 'Pound Cake' emphasizes that it is not the genre but the authenticity of the music that matters. In this manner, 'Pound Cake' criticizes the jazz-elitism that the 'Jimmy Smith Rap' espouses. By doing so, it uses the copyrighted work for "a purpose, or imbues it with a character, different from that for which it was created.'"
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