During the days of Vol 3… The Life and Times of S. Carter and The Dynasty: Roc La Familia, Jay-Z worked with sound engineer man, Chauncey Mahan.
At the time during the late 1999 and 2000, Mahan classified himself as independent contractor and maintained masters from both albums of 31 recordings (10 also with Beanie Sigel).
Various other recordings including outtakes and other unpublished material we’ll never hear were also kept on the infamous hard drive of Mahan. Chauncey held the masters in a storage facility until cops eventually seized the content and hit JAY Z with a counter-sue last July to claim co-ownership for the material they recorded together.
That was until Wednesday when U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield ruled in favor of Jay-Z, giving him complete and full ownership of masters for both projects, stating three reasons why Manhan’s claims were too late.
“Plaintiff asserts that a reasonable person would not necessarily have reason to know that royalties were owed to him in this situation,” writes the judge. “Considering the depth of Plaintiff’s experience in the music industry and the substantial commercial success of the Albums, this assertion strains credulity.”
No comments :