By Justin Ige
Jahbless has no business suing Timaya or even complaining about Timaya’s alleged lifting of the beat of his song, Jeje featuring Oritsefemi. I am not stating an opinion. That is the law, even if the allegation is true that the beat in Timaya’s latest song, Halleluyah is a mere replication of the beat in Jahbless Jeje.
Simply put, you shouldn’t be complaining over another persons property. And you most definitely can’t sue over another persons property. If you do, the court will throw the case out. By law, the beat does not belong to Jahbless. Even if he paid One million dollars for it, he only acquired a right to use it. That is the position of the law unless there’s a written agreement assigning the beat to him. Oral agreement will be invalid for this purpose.
A beat is an independent musical work under the law as well as a sound recording. It has its own copyright which resides with the person who made the beat, provided the beat is original to the person who made the beat anyway.
If anyone should be suing, therefore, it should be the person who actually made the beat.
It would be nice to see a situation where beat makers otherwise called producers gave out their beats to several people to use and thereby begin to maximize returns on their beats. It will also be interesting to see different artistes creativity on the same beat.
Justin Ige MCIArb is a Managing partner at CREATIVE LEGAL, a Media, and Entertainment Law practice. He can be reached via Justin@creativelegal.com.ng or Mailjustinige@gmail.com
#OgaLawya is a resource platform for providing free information and answers to questions on law, which relates to media and entertainment. Twitter: @OgaLawya; Facebook: Oga Lawya
