Jay Z & Timbaland's 'Big Pimpin' Trial May Hinge On 'Moral Rights'

After about a decade in the making, The Big Pimpin' trial started this week in Los Angeles.

Ahmen Fahmy is suing Jay Z, Timbaland and their record companies for swiping 'Big Pimpin''s sample from his uncle, Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi’s, 1957 track 'Khosara, Khosara.'

During the trial's opening remarks, Hamdi estate lawyer Pete Ross argued that Hov and Timbaland needed special permission to sample Khosara since they were putting it in a sexually explicit song. While such "moral rights" are a well-established legal doctrine in Egypt, they aren't in the United States.

Lawyers for the defense told the jury that they will prove Hamdi's family had been paid multiple times through multiple avenues for the sample, so moral rights shouldn't even come into play. They also argued that much of Hamdi's work is too simple to even be copyrighted.

Both Jay and Timbaland attended the trial, and they ran into each other on the way out. As you can see, Hov doesn't seem too worried.