Spoerri wins plagiarism dispute against Jay Z
US rapper Jay-Z used Swiss jazz musician Bruno Spoerri's piece "On the way" for his song "Versus". He will now compensate the Basel saxophonist for this.
Spoerri had initially reported the plagiarism to Suisa, which represents the rights of Swiss musicians. Suisa blocked payments and informed other companies about the dispute. Because Jay Z and his producer Timbaland initially ignored the complaint, Spoerri went public with it a year ago.
The Americans subsequently offered a settlement and, according to the online portal Watson 25,000 dollars in compensation. Too little for Spoerri. After the latter called in American lawyers, Jay Z, who had already lost a similar lawsuit once before, relented.
According to the agreement that has now been signed, Spoerri will receive half of the authorship in one piece. As Spoerri told the Basler Daily Week the trial also had indirect consequences for him. He has received a whole series of engagements, from festivals in Geneva, Brussels and Hamburg. The indirect benefit is therefore greater than the direct one.
