E- News: Migos Beat the Rap on Their ‘Walk It Talk It’ Copyright Infringement Case

MIGOS BEAT THE RAP ON THEIR "WALK IT TALK IT" COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT CASE

Hip-hop group Migos has won a copyright suit filed by an artist who claimed that “Walk It Talk It” infringed on his own.

In October of 2018, rapper M.O.S. — whose real name is Leander Pickett — insisted that the hit single from Migos infringed on a 2008 song that he released called “Walk It Like I Talk It.”

But U.S. District Court Judge Analisa Torre disagreed. She indicated that the only similarity between the two songs was the lyric “walk it like I talk it,” which she says is a “short and commonplace phrase” and hence not protectable by copyright law. The judge further indicated that the phrase had been used in a number of other songs prior to the one by M.O.S., such as:

“March ‘n’ Step” by Paul Wall

“3 A.M.” by Young Jeezy

“Be Easy” by Wiz Khalifa

Another reason the judge gave for dismissing the suit was that M.O.S. had not registered the copyright of his song before initiating the suit, which would have been necessary for the complaint to move forward.

Dana Whitfield, who is a lawyer for M.O.S., told Billboard that he and other members of the rapper’s legal team are “exploring options for an appeal” of the judge’s decision.

The lawsuit named more than just Migos, which includes Quavo (Quavious Marshall), Offset (Kiari Cephus) and Takeoff (Kirsnick Ball). It also named Quality Control Music, Capitol Records and Migos Touring Inc. as well as the producers of “Walk It Talk It”: OG Parker (Joshua Parker) and Deko (Grant Decouto).

Migos was founded in Lawrenceville, Georgia back in 2008. Their debut album Yung Rich Nation came out in 2015, and their follow-up albums Culture and Culture II were both chart-toppers in 2017 and 2018.

“Walk It Talk It,” which included vocals from Drake, has garnered more than 400 million streams on Spotify alone.