(from Toronto Star)

Long-standing allegations of copyright infringement against Jay-Z will finally be heard by a jury, as the relative of a late Egyptian composer says the American hip hop mogul unlawfully sampled his uncle’s 1960s song.

Osama Ahmed Fahmy first filed a lawsuit against rapper Jay-Z and producer Timbaland in 2007, alleging that the pair illegally sampled the Egyptian song “Khosara, Khosara” in their 1999 hit, “Big Pimpin.’”

After years of litigation — involving complex issues related to statutes of limitations and sub-licensing agreements — a California judge ruled March 30 that a jury should decide whether the American artists had the right to sample the song.