A copyright claim brought by hip-hop artist Tyrone Simmons—who purchased an exclusive license to use a beat known as the “I Get Money Instrumental”—against the beat’s creator (William Stanberry, Jr.) and a group of defendants associated with rapper Curtis Jackson, known professionally as “50 Cent,” who used the beat in a hit song, was time-barred because the claim was for copyright ownership, not copyright infringement, the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York City has decided (Simmons v. Stanberry, January 15, 2016, per curiam). A March 2012 decision of the federal district court in New York City was affirmed.
A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law.
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