Berry Gordy’s son, Redfoo, and his nephew/group member, SkyBlu, were probably letting out a sigh of relief win they won their legal battle with rapper, Rick Ross a few years ago. On the other side, Rick Ross lost out on his big opportunity to come out on top, much like Marvin Gaye’s kids did against Pharelle and Robin Thicke. Ross could have been millions of dollars richer than he is right now, had he played his cards right and had his paperwork in order, but things just didn’t work out that way for him.
Ross sued the famous group, LMFAO, which includes Berry Gordy’s son and grandson, SkyBlu, because he said they bit his 2006 hit, “Everyday I’m Hustlin'” with their 2011 hit, “Party Rock Anthem.” The problem that Ross pointed out is that the hooks for both songs are similar- Ross’ hook included the phrase “Everyday I’m hustlin’ and LMFAO’s hook included the phrase, “Everyday I’m shufflin.'”
This possibly could have been an easy win for Ross, but Ross slipped up with his copyright protection. The judge threw Ross’ case out after looking over his paperwork and determining that Ross actually had no copyright protection at all and here’s why: Ross had three different copyright applications and every last one of them were ‘inconsistent and incomplete!’ What the…?!! How in the world did Rick Ross and/or his team manage to get a simple copyright application wrong not on one, but THREE occasions?!!
Don’t get me wrong, we all make mistakes, but I tell ya, sometimes certain mistakes are so crazy and avoidable that the plaintiff almost doesn’t even deserve to get what they rightfully deserve for being so careless…almost.
Ah well, so much for that one Rick Ross, I’m sure the 80’s drug kingpin, “Freeway” Rick Ross, who sued you and loss after you borrowed his name is jumping for joy right about now.