The New York Daily News reports that singer Justin Timberlake’s record label, Universal Music Group (“UMG”), is being sued by two members of the 1970s R&B group Sly, Slick & Wicked for allegedly using vocal samples from their song “Sho ‘Nuff” in Timberlake’s 2013 hit “Suit & Tie” without permission. “[A]ccording to court documents obtained by the Daily News,” the plaintiffs claim that UMG paid for permission to sample the music from “Sho ‘Nuff,” but was never authorized to use samples of the vocals. The article does not reveal the specific relief requested in the lawsuit, or the amount of damages or royalties sought, but notes that the Grammy-winning “Suit & Tie” was “an enormous hit, selling more than 3 million copies while garnering nearly 100 million clicks on YouTube since its release in 2013.” Neither UMG nor Timberlake appear to have yet made any public statements regarding the suit. Read the article here, and compare "Suit & Tie" and "Sho 'Nuff" here and here. From the New York Daily News.

By karina3094 [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.