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With Damon Dash Roc-A-Fella Auction Looming, Can Jay-Z Take Back Rights To ‘Reasonable Doubt’?

With Damon Dash’s Roc-A-Fella Records auction looming, a fight erupts over whether Jay-Z can retake the copyrights to debut album 'Reasonable Doubt'

Attorneys for Jay-Z are now sparring with lawyers for New York City over whether he can use copyright termination to retake control of his debut album Reasonable Doubt – a crucial question ahead of court-ordered auction of Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Damon Dash ’s one-third stake in the label. The owners of the other two-thirds of Roc-A-Fella — label co-founders Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) and Kareem “Biggs” Burke — have already attempted to stop the auction, including making changes to the company’s bylaws and intervening in the lawsuit. They argued that he had created the album as so-called “work for hire” under a written contract with Roc-A-Fella – meaning the company had always been the legal owner of the copyright, and there were no rights to Jay to take back in the first place.

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