Frank Ocean, Kanye West & Jay Z Win “Made In America” Lawsuit

Carl Williott | October 11, 2016 12:48 pm

Jay Z, Kanye West and Frank Ocean have won a lawsuit stemming from their 2011 Watch The Throne track “Made In America.”

Nw York musician Joel McDonald sued the trio in 2014, claiming the song stole the idea from his 2009 song of the same name. Last September, a district court dismissed the case, ruling that the songs weren’t similar in copyright-protected ways, granting Jay, West and Ocean a victory. And last week, just over a year later, a federal appeals court upheld that dismissal.

According to Pitchfork, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, “We have considered all of McDonald’s arguments and find them to be without merit.”

This is the second big copyright infringement claim Jay has dodged recently: Back in October 2015, he and Timbaland won in a copyright trial over a sample in “Big Pimpin'”.