A Judge Martha Pacold has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a man named DaQuan Robinson, who accused Future of copyright infringement.
Robinson had sued Future 2 years ago for what he claimed was a lot of lifted elements which mirrored his own track, “When U Think About It.”
Robinson alleged he’d emailed a draft of the song to Future’s team before the official version came out and claims Future’s track “When I Think About It” ended up being eerily similar to his original tune.
Specifically, Robinson claimed Future’s song touched on a lot of the same content his track did namely, guns, money and jewelry but Judge Pacold cut him off there, saying those general themes are not protected by copyright and are omnipresent throughout rap.
To make her point, she cites countless examples where these topics are addressed such as Biggie’s ‘Machine Gun Funk,’ ‘Wu-Tang Clan’s ‘C.R.E.A.M.’ and even Kanye’s ‘Diamonds from Sierra Leone.’ In all of those, she says, these references exist and therefore, they’re part of the larger hip hop well of content that no one person can claim copyright to in a given song.
The court also noted that the two songs weren’t substantially similar enough for it to matter anyway.
Justice Pacold tossed out Robinson’s claim with prejudice, adding that he can appeal if he wants to.