Kanye West Settles Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Blackletter

Kanye was actually sued over a song called Ultra Light Beam. The plaintiffs were Andrew Green and Shirley Green suing on behalf of their daughter, which in the lawsuit, I assume she's a minor, was identified solely as NG, that's November Golf, and somebody named Andrea Green. At the beginning of a song by Kanye, there's a small sample from that work, Ultra Light Beam that involves the NG miner and Andrea Green praying together and saying something about not having devils in the house. Kanye sampled that, it was in his song. Apparently, he had approached NG's original mother and then NG was adopted, and the original mother had given him permission, but nothing in writing and no money. All of it comes down to the fact though of something much simpler, and I think it's something that companies and individuals and anyone who does anything that's copyrightable, from software to fictional work, needs to take note of. Since the case, The Fourth Estate, the United States Supreme Court has said over and over again, "You can't bring a copyright suit on a copyright application. You've got to have a registration, an issued copyright registration." And in this case, that's why the bulk of the complaint was initially dismissed in January. The case settled subsequently. So, there's really nothing more to say there about Kanye or this NG Ultra Light Beam song, except that it was just a good lesson.