Court Dismisses D'banj's Lawsuit Against Michael

Some time ago, a musician from Cameroon filed a lawsuit against Michael Jackson and Rihanna, accusing them of the illegal use of a piece from his songs. After the court reviewed the case, the 75-year-old artist’s complaint against Michael and Rihanna was found to be baseless. Michael had used part of D'banj’s song titled Soul Makossa in Wanna be Startin Something from the Thriller album, and he had reached an agreement with D'banj on this issue. In 2007, Rihanna used the same track in her song Don’t Stop The Music. In this case, D'banj asked the court for €500,000 in damages, and his lawyers also sought to have the income of the two songs from three major music companies—SonyBMG, EMI, and Warner—seized until the ruling was issued. But the court closed the Cameroonian artist’s lawsuit, stating that D'banj had registered his name in Rihanna’s song production list last year, thereby protecting his royalties. Source: eMJey / Welt Online / Deutsche Presse Agentur