Big Easy rap artists Juvenile and D.J. Jubilee did battle in the Fifth Circuit's Positive Black Talk Inc. v. Cash Money Records Inc., over two songs that both "include the poetic four-word phrase 'back that ass up.'"

According to PBT's copyright infringement complaint, Juvenile recorded "Back That Azz Up" (released on 400 DEGREEZ album) after hearing Jubilee's "Back That Ass Up" (from the TAKE IT TO THE ST. THOMAS album). D.J. Jubilee's song enjoyed modest success, while Juvenile's song "blew up," as they say in the business.

The Fifth affirmed the appealed rulings of the lower court, including, most notably, the judgment in favor of Juvenile on the copyright claim. The Court held that although Jubilee was the registered copyright holder of his own song "Back That Ass Up," the jury correctly found that: 1) Jubilee failed to proved that Juvenile factually copied "Back That Ass Up"; 2) the defendants proved that Juvenile independently created "Back That Azz Up"; and 3) Jubilee failed to prove that "Back That Azz Up" is substantially similar to "Back That Ass Up."

Aside from dealing in bass subject matter of the streets, this opinion contains a treble discussion of the intricacies of copyright infringement actions, including curing procedural defects in jurisdictional matters and providing adequate proof of factual copying.

"A must-read for entertainment industry counsel shopping for the right forum." -- David Manning, Ridgefield Press