A federal appeals
court ruled Wednesday (March 23) that a copyright infringement lawsuit against
rapper Xzibit and Aftermath producer Dr. Dre was frivolous.
Aspiring Philadelphia songwriter,
Michael Lowe could incur a severe penalty for filing the lawsuit against Xzibit,
several record companies and Dr. Dre, who is credited as one of the author’s
of the song "X," according to the Associated Press.
Lowe alleged that he created
the beat for "X," a track from Xzibit’s platinum-selling album Restless.
Judges also sustained a
ruling from a lower-court that ordered Lowe to compensate Dr. Dre for his court
and legal fees, which totaled about $35,000.
Lowe said that after recording
the beat for the track "X" he gave it to mega-producer Scott Storch,
anticipating that Storch would hand it over to Dr. Dre to use in a song.
Storch consistently claimed
that Lowe had no part in the song.
According to a legal statement,
Lowe said he never expected payment for the beat. The court stated that Lowe
could not therefore sue over the track if he gave it away freely.
Restless
lists songwriting credits for "X" to Xzibit, Dr. Dre, and Melvin Bradford,
a rap writer whose stage name is Mel Man.
