Birthday Phrase Escaped Copyright Protection

In January 2006, American rapper 50 Cent faced a copyright lawsuit from a former 2 Live Crew manager named Joseph Weinberger. Weinberger claimed that the line "it's your birthday" in 50 Cent's 2003 hit "In da Club" copied the same phrase from a song on American rapper Luther Campbell's 1994 album Freak for Life 6996. US District Judge Paul Huck dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that the phrase was a "common, unoriginal, and noncopyrightable element of the song."

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