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Celebrity Justice
*NSYNC *NCOURT Over Song

Posted May 8th 2007 8:00PM by TMZ Staff

Justin Timberlake, Lance Bass and the rest of the boys from *NSYNC, along with their label Jive Records, are being blasted over a hit song from the past that they allegedly ripped off -- and the dispute could cost 'em more than $10 million bucks.

In a lawsuit filed yesterday in a Las Vegas Federal Court, a musician named Troy Alexander (aka "Royal T") claims he met with Jive records in 1990 and introduced them to his demo tape of the song "Up Against the Wall." According to documents, JIVE signed *NSYNC a few years later, who then released a song "substantially similar" to Alexander's work in 2001. The song in question featured the same title and was featured on the smash album "Celebrity." The boys also performed the song on their "PopOdyssey" tour.
NSYNC
According to Troy's attorneys at Callister and Reynolds, the similarities are much more of a "battle of written lyrics," as opposed to sound.

A rep for Jive told TMZ that they were not aware of the claim and had not been served with any papers.

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1. JUST ANOTHER STUPID LAWSUIT, TYING UP THE COURT SYSTEM!

THE LYRICS ARE NOT EVEN CLOSE TO BEING THE SAME, IN TERMS OF WHAT IT IS SAYING.

THE N*SYNC VERSION IS LOVELY.
THE OTHER ONE READS AMATEURISHLY.

THE OTHER GUY MUST HAVE A LOT OF TIME ON HIS HANDS.
I PREDICT THIS CASE WILL BE THROWN OUT THE VERY FIRST DAY OF THE HEARING, THUS SPARING A JURY AN EXPENSIVE, STUPID, USELESS TRIAL.
GO, N*SYNC!

Posted at 8:38PM on May 8th 2007 by ONE WHO KNOWS

2. WHO CARES......P~~~

Posted at 8:22PM on May 8th 2007 by Nance

3. I'm not getting. They're nothing alike. Am I missing something?

Posted at 9:10PM on May 8th 2007 by D

4. The lyrics aren't similar at all. The story lines and themes aren't even similar. And I'll guess from Troy's lawyer's statement that the music isn't similar either. Hooray for frivolous lawsuits. I hope they put him down and charge him for costs.

Posted at 10:43PM on May 9th 2007 by G

5. Not seeing the similarity either... The title's the same... annnd.. That's it? If this guy was so concerned, why did it take this long to show up as a lawsuit? (Maybe he had a legitimate reason for it taking 6 years... If he does it looks like that would be the only legitimate thing here...)

Posted at 8:43PM on May 8th 2007 by Valerie

6. The lyrics are not close to being similar.
"Royal T" should stop now before it gets even more embarrassing.
This is the reason real cases cannot be tried correctly in California. Too much petty made up crap being taken seriously by the D.A.'s.

Posted at 9:32PM on May 8th 2007 by Rose Paul

7. Granted the lyrics may not be copied word for word, but there are enough similarities to see they came from the same writer. Everyone is berating Mr. Alexander for fighting for what is his, when they should be giving him props for going up against a group like NSYNC knowing the battle ahead will be a vicious one. i wish him luck and hope he gets what he is entitled to.

Posted at 9:34PM on May 8th 2007 by AMEJ

8. What! The lyrics are NOTING alike. drop your case Royal T, your still worthless, and going to remain worthless. good luck idiots, thanks for wasting the "systems" time. This is why it takes 4 months to get court dates..

Posted at 1:35PM on May 9th 2007 by Shannon

9. They both suck...wait a minute I just saw Superficial said Lindsay Lohan has no nipples...now that's worth checking out. :P

Posted at 10:38PM on May 8th 2007 by Steven Bacon

10. Am I slow or what??? I don't know what they are suing N'Sync over!!!! What some people do for attention!!!

Posted at 11:10PM on May 8th 2007 by Sandra

11. Kudos to Troy Alexander
Another classic example of plagiarism. Originality is not NSYNC's forte. They started out as a dressed up carbon copy of BACKSTREET BOYS. They had a uniqueness and sounded like BOYS and NSYNC????? - boys and girls.
If anyone of the above people would bother to check all the lyrics on THE DOCUMENTS you would see that it has been slightly altered but the intent and content is definitely too close to be claimed as an original by NSYNC.
If someone took your white sneakers and painted them red - would they still be your sneakers??? You would want to be paid for them or a new pair - right? Same difference in this case.
Too often unknown and struggling artists are ripped off by the elite well-known celebrities and are not in a position to fight. It's time for the courts to make a statement - plagiarism can no longer be allowed.
Take it to the Supreme Court if you have to Troy - GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!

Posted at 12:10AM on May 9th 2007 by LoLo

12. all i could do is laugh ..... what they used the same title and some of the words are in their lyrics. but two totally different subjects nothing alike sorry unless `using any words that he may have used at all were copy write infringed..sorry subject matter not the same i dont see it does he own all the words he uses that means he can sue anyone he wants now.

Posted at 12:30AM on May 9th 2007 by D2D

13.
What's ten mil to those guys?

Posted at 12:50AM on May 9th 2007 by billyboy

14. I'm sorry but I don't see it the "similarities"... and this song was on an album released in 2001, its SIX YEARS LATER! Why now? Sounds like an act of desperation to me...

Posted at 1:01AM on May 9th 2007 by RJ

15. At issue here is integrity and being respectful of the work of others. You can't judge the validity of this lawsuit by comparing the two works word for word. Only a moron would copy another persons work word for word and present it as their own. You have to consider the fact that Mr. Alexander met with Jive records before NSYNC was even signed and presented them with this song. I think where most that are posting are getting confused is that it is the totality of the evidence that makes a case, not just if the words are the same for both songs. Its not the sameness of the song that matters but the the concept behind the words that are written. The taking of an unknowns concept of a song is done by big music companies on a frequent basis, but they feel that the unknown person will be to scared or not possess the resources to fight the big music labels. The question here is, would NSYNC have come up with the "concept" of "Up Against the Wall" if not for Mr. Alexander's submission, because if you review both lyrics, the "concept" of "Up Against the Wall" is definitely in NSYNC's lyrics. I appaud Mr. Alexander for having the courage to go up against "Goliath" for what he thinks is right. I'm sure that this is not the first time a music company has used someone else's idea for a song and used it as their own work without compensating the true author. Good luck and I hope Mr. Alexander gets everything he deserves.

Posted at 11:57AM on May 9th 2007 by DG

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