Jay-Z Sued for Copyright Infringement Over 'Decoded' Book
Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter has been slapped with a copyright infringement lawsuit over his hit 2010 book "Decoded."
Patrick White, a writer, is suing the hip-hop mogul for allegedly stealing portions of his own book and using them in "Decoded," according to Allhiphop.com.
"In 2009, my personal computer was compromised, resulting in my personal work to be used in Jay-Z's book Decoded which was released in 2010," White claims in his complaint.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"The book contains various expressions/colors/phrases, which correlates to my work," White claims. "After contacting or attempting to contact the co-author, I got no reply."
White claims that he was writing his own book on his personal laptop, which was stolen the year before Jay-Z released his own book "Decoded."
"Decoded" is described as being a collection of lyrics along with the story behind their meanings.
The lawsuit was filed in United States District Court, Central District on June 13 and White is suing for invasion of property in conjunction with copyright infringement.
Author Dream Hampton and Random House are also named White's lawsuit.
The 42-year-old is no stranger to lawsuits. In 2010 Jay-Z was sued by Air Platinum Club for almost $250,000 in costs and damages.
Air Platinum, which offers a private jet service, claimed that the rapper failed to pay for 55 hours of private jet service which he allegedly used in 2009, although the suit was eventually dropped.
In late 2011, Jay-Z was sued by the Workers Compensation Board of New York for $18,000 in fines, which a court eventually ordered him to pay, according to TMZ.
The government agency argued that Jay-Z failed to pay workers' compensation insurance for several of his employees over a three-month period in 2009.
