Tracy Chapman v Onika Tanya Maraj et al

US District Court of California - 16 September 2020

Mindy LeMoine, Munger, Tolles & Olson

US rapper Nicki Minaj (real name Onika Tanya Maraj) recently won a partial victory in the copyright infringement lawsuit Tracy Chapman brought against her arising out of Minaj’s use of a Chapman composition. Applying the doctrine of fair use, Judge Virginia Phillips of the Central District of California held that Minaj’s use of Chapman’s composition “to experiment with it” and create a new work to present for licensing purposes was not infringing. ¹