South African singer Karma Ann Swanepoel (Henry Ate, Karma) and her publishing company Urband & Lazar Music Publishing Inc,  have instituted proceedings in a Louisiana court against best-selling rapper Lil Wayne for copyright infringement.

 

In the court documents , Urband & Lazar Music Publishing claim that the rapper (real name Dwayne Carter) is infringing on Karma's copywritten song "Once" without consent by sampling, performing live and redistributing the aforementioned song as containined within his hit "Dying".

The lawsuit claims Wayne "has neither given his notice of his intent to obtain a compulsory license nor negotiated a mechanical license" to use the singer's voice in the chorus of his track.

However, it is stated that the rapper's label, Cash Money Records, has attempted to license Karma's track so it may appear on his upcoming Tha Carter III album, but to date has failed to come to an agreement.

Karma and Urband & Lazar claim that "Dying" has had a "substantial benefit to [Lil Wayne's] career," further noting that it has been streamed over 16 million times via his MySpace page while taking full credit without acknowledging her work.

"I believe Lil Wayne was unwilling to give Karma credit (album credit or otherwise). The whole hook and chorus of his song is actually Karma's song that has just been distorted. Lil Wayne's version is very popular -- but it wouldn't exist without Karma's song," explained Melvin Albritton, Karma's attorney in a article on HipHop news-blog Ballerstatus.com .

Later in the documents, they claim that Karma's lyrics and voice have factored heavily into Wayne's rising success, and the sales of his upcoming album will be due entirely to the inclusion of her voice.

While an amount is not clearly stated, Karma and company are seeking the profits from gross sales of "Dying," which they estimate to be in excess of $5 million, plus legal fees.

"Lil Wayne knows he doesn't have a license to use Karma's song, but he has distributed it anyway. By offering the song on his myspace page, performing it live at concerts and leaking it on mixtapes, Lil' Wayne has flaunted the copyright laws of this country," said Albritton. "...We had to file suit now to get Karma the credit she deserves and stop him from further infringing on her work."