Wayne Swipes Tune

On the heels of the Coldplay lawsuit for allegedly ripping off Joe Satriani's song "If I Could Fly" for their latest hit "Viva La Vida, comes Lil Wayne and Karma-Ann Swanepoel. Apparently Wayne and Swanepoel got into negotiations to sample the song "Once" for his 2007 mixtape hit "Feel Like Dying." Wayne's people were quick to request a 20-second time out to have more time to turn over documents for the lawsuit filed by Karma Ann Swanepoel.

The suit (which was filed way back in May) says Lil Wayne's label, Cash Money Records, attempted to negotiate with Swanepoel to sample the song but never came to a deal. Wayne decided to use it anyway and thus went on to have the song downloaded millions of times online. We can't really blame Swanepoel though. Lil Wayne's career has landed him as one of the most in-demand acts in rap right now.

To the unpopular defense of Karma-Ann, the negotiations never ended. Wayne decided it was too stressful and decided to use them anyway. This also isn't the first time he's been in hot water over copyright infringement. It wasn't long ago that Wayne was accused of infringemnt by Publisher Abkco Music who took him to federal court in July. The accusations were that Lil Wayne ripped off the Rolling Stones' Play With Fire on a track from the hugely successful Wayne album, The Carter III.

The amount of money Swanepoel has asked for hasn't been made public. We can assume it will be a number much higher then the expected annual income of 2009. I guess the lesson here is why earn when you can sue, and why negotiate deals just take it. Well done to both.