DS
New York
Pitbull and Kesha’s hit song ‘Timber’ is embroiled in a multi-million dollar lawsuit over ‘copyright infringement’. Songwriters Lee Oskar, Keri Oskar and Greg Errico are seeking $3 million in damages after claiming the harmonica riff in ‘Timber’ is identical to the one in their 1978 song.
The trio is claiming that Paul Harrington, the harmonica player on ‘Timber’, was instructed to ‘emulate’ the section on their song ‘San Francisco Bay’ to give it ‘an identical texture and sound’.
Lee, Keri and Errico allege that Pitbull’s label Sony ‘might have obtained a license’ to use their song from a license holder, but insist they didn’t receive permission from the songwriters themselves.
The songwriters for ‘San Francisco Bay’ maintain that they haven’t received any money from ‘Timber’. Listen to Pitbull and Ke$ha’s ‘Timber’ and Oskar and Eriko’s ‘San Francisco Bay’ below:
According to the New York Daily News, some people filed suit against Pitbull in a Manhattan court on June 20th.
The trio claim ‘Timber’ uses portions of a harmonica riff from their 70s track ‘San Francisco Bay.’ The Oskars and Errico allege Paul Harrington, the harmonica player on ‘Timber,’ was told to emulate the harmonica melody played by Lee Oskar on ‘San Francisco Bay.’ Therefore infringing upon the original record by making ‘copious use’ of the original melody and harmonica riff. Since hitting airwaves in October of 2013, ‘
Timber’ has sold four million copies and gel the top spot on the Billboard charts for three weeks. The Oskars and Errico are seeking $3 million in damages.