Celebrity Justice
*NSYNC *NCOURT Over Song

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.

Reader Comments

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16. Uhhh...Virgin Mary....you're ignorance is showing!

Posted at 2:23AM on May 9th 2007 by Right

17. First, its funny to see people saying that 'nsync ripped off bsb. BSB ripped off nkotb (oh pardon, the guy who created them AND put nsync together used to rent planes for nkotb and the other guy was their tour manager), and we can keep going back in time and nearly every single artist is similar to one before (NKOTB was created based on the Jackson 5 and the osmonds). The rest of the folks talking about plagerism, apparently didn't read the lyrics and if they read the whole thing and still thought it was the same song... This should be taken as seriously as Paris Hilton's appeal process. One song talks about drugs, cops and violence, the other talks about a guy and a girl in a club, no drugs, no getting hauled away and getting handcuffed. Maybe that's the same to some of you... And apparently the first "artist" didn't want to be taken seriously because they couldn't even spell everything correctly before giving it to a record company. (there's a difference between leaving off a g on the end of a word and spelling things like criminolgy and "base".. uh don't you mean bass, turbo?).

Posted at 2:52AM on May 9th 2007 by Valerie

18. nothing alike, the dude is just a pathetic money grubber looking for a free handout

Posted at 3:18AM on May 9th 2007 by Evil

19. how ridiculous. this won't stand up in court.

Posted at 12:56PM on May 9th 2007 by christy

20. This is too ludacrous for words. This guy is a total idiot if he thinks he has a case. I am sick of people suing to get money for nothing and using the courts to do it. Those lyrics he wrote weren't even close to the content of NSYNC's song. Maybe the guy should try getting a real job and actually work for a living rather than trying to cash in on something that obviously has no merit. I'm sure he is banking on the fact that lots of companies will settle out of court rather than waste time on going to court. In this case I hope Jive Records takes it to court because they would win hands down. What rubbish!

Posted at 6:24AM on May 9th 2007 by It needs to be said

21. #15~~You asked, "What's ten mil to those guys?"
Interesting question. "Ten mil" as you put it is ten mil, and that's still a lot of money in my book. And why would a company shell out so much money to someone who is obviously trying to get money for nothing. That song bore no relation to the song NSYC sang and to say it does makes him look ridiculous. Guess who pays for that "ten mil" in the long run? You and I pay, that's who. We will just have to pay more for cd's and insurance. (Yes, companies like Jive Records has insurance against this kind of thing) So that's what ten mil is. It comes out of YOUR pocket. How do you feel now?

Posted at 5:43AM on May 12th 2007 by It needs to be said

22. Hey! I wrote a song once....it had the words was, girl, and feelings. Can I get in on some of Royal T's action?

Posted at 6:30AM on May 9th 2007 by Paul

23. DID ANYONE NOTIcE THAT RESCENTLY ANOTHER MAN CAME FORWARD WITH ALLEGATIONS OVER A SONG 'NDYNC 'DID ..BACK IN THE DAY.. A FELLOW BY THE NAME OF Ben Freeman.. has a case pending against these clowns ..which just so happens 2 be off the very same album..a song titled'Girlfriend''... when u look at the facts t.. there has 2 be sumthin 2 this ... after all what are the odds of 2 total strangers .. ending up ..fighting over .. stolen lyrics .. that come from the same damn album'UPagainst the wall''.and' 'Girlfriend ' both ..come on now.. havent we had enough of these people just takin what they want ......AND REGARDING THE IDIOT WHO WANTED 2 KNOW ..WHY IT MIGHT HAVE TAKEN THIS MAN SO LONG 2 COME FORTH.... IF U DIDNT LISTEN TO 'NDYNC'..HOW WOULD ONE EVER KNOW..EXCEPT BY HAPPENSTANCE.. ..LORD KNOWS IM OLD ENOUGH 2 REMEMBER THE 90'S ..BUT I COULDN'T TELL U WHAT THE HELL THOSE KIDS SANG.. CAUSE NOT ONLY WOULD I NOT LISTEN 2 IT.. DIDN'T BUY IT EITHER...AND PERSONALLY.. I THINK HES GOT A GREAT CASE.. BRAVO.2 YOU..TROY.... HOPE THEY GET WHAT THEY DESERVE.. JIVE TURKEYS AND THE FAKEAZZ CREW!!!

Posted at 7:16AM on May 9th 2007 by MORE POWER 2 YOU!!....TROY!

24. What ever happened to grammar?

Posted at 9:58AM on May 10th 2007 by It needs to be said

25. Speaking of similiarities... didn't Cameron Diaz wear that same necklace the other night to The Costume Institute's gala? Gross.

Posted at 1:51PM on May 9th 2007 by Renee

26. What I think is so amusing is that some of you people aren't even talking about the issue. Whether you like(d) Nsync or not should not be discussed here. It's not important. And bringing out the drama between Nsync and the Backstreet boys is just funny-that was something that was most likely contrived by the media. It makes you sound like a teen still. Keep to the issue!


The issue is whether or not the song was ripped off. It seems pretty clear that it wasn't. As it has already been pointed out, the lyics and the purpose are not the same. How many songs out there have the same titles? That's about the whole common factor that I see.

And someone said what's 10 million to them? That's not the point! You shouldn't have to pay someone just because you have money and they decide they want some of it!

Posted at 10:47AM on May 9th 2007 by Krissy

27. TO "'IT NEEDS TO BE SAID'": . WHY YOU HATING SO MUCH? THAT'S YOUR BAD FOR GETTING SUCKED INTO BUYING JUSTIN & NSNYC AS ORIGINAL ARTISTS THSINGING ORIGINAL MATERIAL. THE ONLY THING ORIGINAL JUSTIN DID WAS THE MACDONALD JINGLE WHICH HE SAYS HE'S SORRY HE EVER DID. THAT'S A SLAP IN THE FACE TO MACDONALD & ANYONE WHO BUYS THERE.
HEY ROYAL T - 'I'M LOVIN IT", I'M LOVIN' IT, I'M LOVIN' IT.

Posted at 8:01AM on May 9th 2007 by LYA

28. It needs to be said -- this is a gossip blog, not English class. If you want grammar and spell check you've come to the wrong place. Don't judge, just enjoy the retardation that is celeb gossip!!!

Posted at 8:05AM on May 9th 2007 by All in good fun!

29. "it needs to be said and LYA" your racist attitude is just silly. How do you expect anyone to take those comments seriously?

Posted at 8:05AM on May 9th 2007 by Real

30. Some of you people are pretty Ignorant and need to learn how to read. Looks like practically every word and lyric is underlined, lol, looks like Nysnc couldnt think for thereself. To that Valerie chick if you spent as much time comprehending as you did spell checking you might not sound so Ignorant and hateful. The guy is talking about a false arrest and hes sending a positive message that YOU DONT WANNA BE LIVING UP AGAINST THE WALL fool. READ! But that's the mentality of ignorant people, like all rappers have to be drug dealers. Secondly you dont give Lyric sheets to record companies you give them "music" you know a CD with spoken words on it, dahhh! To that other clown talking about this is why trails are not tried right in California, this was filed in Las Vegas HELLO, damn fools, theres some stupid ppl in here, well they listen to Nsync what do u except. You people need to learn to read and comprehend. Lastly, obviously some young pop suburbian kids are not gonna be writing about the same thing a rapper from Brooklyn wirtes about of course the story is different DAHHH, however you cant take someone elses Lyrics to write your version of the same thing PUTTING SOMEONE UP AGAINST THE WALL...GET EM ROYAL T,,,SET AN EXAMPLE!!! and THAT NYSNC VERSION IS CORNY AS HELL, AND HALF THE SONG THEIR REPEATING THE SAME THING, LOL...THEY DONT EVEN HAVE THAT MANY LRYICS AND WHAT THEY DO HAVE THEY "TOOK" AND ADDED SOME WORDS, AWW THIS IS TOO FUNNY, GET EM!!!!!GET YOURS MAN!

Posted at 3:22PM on May 9th 2007 by Cannon

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