Missy Elliott to face lawsuit over alleged co-writer's copyright claims

Federal judge ordered Missy Elliott to stand trial after a man filed a copyright lawsuit against her. Terry Williams claims to have co-written many of Elliott's songs in the 90s, but was never credited.

In a decision filed Monday and received by Rolling StoneJudge Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro refused to dismiss Williams' lawsuit. The judge also partially granted Elliott's motions for summary judgment regarding Aaliyah's song “Heartbroken,” one of the five songs at issue.

Elliott's lawyers argued that for four of the five songs they allegedly co-wrote (released by '90s R&B group Sista), the rapper didn't meet Williams until after the songs were produced. Williams disputed this claim, testifying during his deposition that he and Elliott worked together between 1993 and 1996, which includes the era of the songs in question that appeared in 1994 4 All Sistas Around Da World were written. The judge leaves that up to the jury.

“Given these conflicting arguments and evidence, there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Williams and Elliott were working together at the time of the production of the SISTA album 4 All the Sistas Around Da World and whether Williams' contributions to the Unpublished Songs were used in derivative songs released on the album,” Judge Alejandro wrote.

Williams also claimed to have co-written Aaliyah's song “Heartbroken” from her 1996 album One in a million with Elliott, but the judge dismissed the claim, ruling that Williams had known for decades that his name was not in the song's credits.

“Williams commenced this action against Elliott on November 14, 2018, more than twenty-two years after its release Heartbroken. Under these circumstances, the Court further finds that Williams has failed to provide evidence that it exercised due diligence. Therefore, Williams' co-ownership claim is based on the song Devastated released by Aaliyah is barred by the three-year statute of limitations. Accordingly, Elliott's motion for summary judgment is granted as to Williams' co-ownership claim based on Aaliyah's song HeartbrokenJudge Alejandro wrote.

Elliott's attorney did not immediately return calls Rolling Stoneof a request for comment, and Williams did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A pre-trial conference between Williams and Elliott will be held on November 13.