December 9, 2014 | Pryor Cashman successfully represented client Jay-Z in a copyright infringement suit brought by record label TufAmerica Inc.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleged that Jay-Z sampled “significant portions” of the 1960s funk song “Hook & Sling” on his hit track “Run This Town.” Pryor Cashman argued in its motion to dismiss that the single instance of the word “oh” appears once, for about three seconds. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan dismissed the lawsuit, find that the works were not substantially similar.

The Pryor Cashman team representing Jay-Z included Partner Brad D. Rose, Chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property Group, Partner Ilene S. Farkas, a member of the firm’s Litigation, Intellectual Property and Media & Entertainment groups, and Associate Erik T. Kindschi.