Kanye West has settled charges that his 2013 hit single “New Slaves” ripped off the work of a Hungarian rock star.
The hip-hop impresario reached an out-of-court deal with Hungarian artist Gabor Presser on Monday, court documents show — just two days before West was slated to be deposed in the case.
Legal experts said the timing suggested West chose to settle rather than testify under oath.
The tussle in New York federal court, which has dragged on since last May, was “resolved amicably,” according to a source close to the situation. Terms weren’t disclosed.
Presser’s attorney, Peter Cane, declined comment to The Post. Lawyers for West didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The Budapest-based songster had been seeking $2.5 million for copyright infringement on grounds that “New Slaves” from West’s “Yeezus” album misappropriated parts of his 1969 hit, “Gyöngyhajú Lány” (“The Girl with Pearly Hair”).
Indeed, West’s song samples a full 85 seconds of Presser’s song — in what amounts to more than one-third of the single.
By the time the suit was filed last spring, the Yeezus album — propelled by “New Slaves” as its breakout hit, according to Presser — went platinum with sales in excess of 500,000 units. West’s 40-concert tour to support it generated $35 million in ticket sales between October 2013 and September 2014.
Presser’s take, by comparison, was said to total $700 in royalty fees.
Presser said he learned about West’s unauthorized sampling five days after the rapper had started using it in a 66-city promotion campaign that kicked off on May 17, 2013.
That’s when a West attorney emailed Presser, informing him the rapper “would like to work out a deal with you as soon as possible,” Presser said.
Turns out the desired time frame was 48 hours.
“West’s attorneys were apparently concerned about the upcoming video projection performances of the New Composition scheduled for May 24, 2013,” Presser said.
However, rather than cut a quick deal or jeopardize West’s continuing promotion, Presser claimed he allowed the rapper to use the song a second weekend — provided they come to terms afterward.
Instead, Presser alleged West’s attorneys sent him a $10,000 advance and asserted it obligated him “to consent to West’s unlawful use of the original composition.”
Presser said he never took possession of the advance — just as he never signed a license agreement delivered to him in January 2014 — but continued unsuccessful negotiations with West through March 2016.
Without a composer’s permission, samplings of any length run afoul of copyright law — despite myths that samples of five seconds, or eight bars, are legally acceptable.
In December, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the US Southern District of New York rejected the rapper’s attempt to dismiss the suit and to transfer the case out West.
A May 15 trial date was set, provided West sit for a deposition in Los Angeles on March 7 — a date that was later delayed to Wednesday of this week.
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