Beyonce Knowles to Testify in Court
R ‘n’ B singer Beyonce Knowles is reportedly set to testify in court in connection with a copyright dispute, after a man alleged that
Singer/songwriter Rickey Allen had filed a lawsuit against the Beyonces girl group in 2006, claiming their 2004 track Cater 2 U was inspired by a song he composed with the same title, which he first copyrighted in the mid-1990s.
Allen’s song is about “relieving the stress of a significant other” and he insists even the lyrics in Destiny’s Child’s song are suspiciously similar to his.
He claimed he handed over a version of his song to producer Maurice Joshua, who is said to have later worked with the Bootylicious hitmakers in the studio. Joshua maintains he never held a copy of the song.
Lawyers for the trio, which disbanded in 2005, asked to throw out the case but U.S. District Judge James Holderman has now given the go-ahead for the copyright case to hit a Chicago, Illinois courtroom on December 10.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper, Beyonce is expected to take the stand, because her legal team claims she came up with the idea for the track.
“She is perhaps the most important witness for the defendants,” Contactmusic quoted a statement in their legal filing as stating.
“Do we say (Beyonce’s) responsible for copying? Yes. But there’s no such thing as innocent copying, even if it’s unintentional. The jury will decide the notion that these are simple coincidences,” Allen’s lawyer Matt Wildermuth added.
The trial was previously delayed due to Knowles’ busy schedule.
If it stays that way by Sunday then JLS would be denied a rare chart double. Their second single Everybody In Love bounced Cheryl Cole’s track Fight For This Love off top spot this week to land them a second No.1.
A statement on the Official Chart Company’s industry website said yesterday: ‘Please note that as a result of registration issues related to the new Robbie Williams album Reality Killed The Video Star, a number of sales have been omitted from the albums sales total in today’s sales flash.
