Kanye West Loses Copyright Infringement Trial

Kanye "Ye" West has lost a copyright infringement civil trial against him for using a music sample without permission during a live performance of his song "Hurricane", NME magazine reported Wednesday.

A federal jury in Los Angeles unanimously decided that Ye infringed on the copyright of the instrumental song "MSD PT2" (pronounced MSD part two) during a listening party at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia on July 22nd, 2021.

Ye's unauthorized usage of the one minute, one second track is apparently going to cost him and his companies over $430,000.

Both the rapper and his company Yeezy LLC were found liable for $176,153 each, and his merchandising companies Yeezy Supply and Mascotte Holdings were found liable for over $40,000 each.

Songwriters/plaintiffs Khalil Abdul Rahman, Sam Barsh, Dan Seeff and Josh Mease "claimed that the 'MSD PT2' recording was shared with Ye’s team during preliminary discussions, and they said there was an expectation that they would be 'compensated fairly' for any commercial use."

NME reported that Ye’s lawyer Eduardo Martorell told the jury, "The artists led my client to believe he had permission to use their music every step of the way."

Ye testified at trial, "a lot of people try to take advantage of me."

Kanye West (Photo credit: Victor Boyko)