Into the pop courts, and The Game has launched legal proceedings against Koch Entertainment and Fast Life Records over allegations that the music companies violated the rapper's copyright by releasing albums he recorded prior to signing to Dr Dre's Aftermath Records.
Lawyers for The Game claim that not only did the defendants commit copyright violation by releasing and distributing 'Untold Story', 'Untold Story Vol. 2', 'Untold Story Vol. 2 Chopped & Screwed' and 'G.A.M.E' - what the rapper's people refer to as 'demo albums' - but, lawyers say, they alerted Koch and Fast Life to the copyright issues surrounding the releases, yet the defendants continued to distribute them.
The Game's manager Jimmy Rosemond told AllHipHop.com: "It is unfortunate that Koch ignored our request to halt distribution of Game's early demos. They are illegal masters that were obtained without the consent of the Game. We hope this will make any and all musical pirates more conscious of artists, like the Game, and their copyrights and intellectual property. Koch just released another illegal Game album ['G.A.M.E.']. This is a mere attempt to confuse Game's fans as he is preparing to release his sophomore album in June with Dr. Dre".
However, insiders at Koch say they have the legal right to release and distribute the early Game albums. AllHipHop.com quote a source there as saying: "Our rights to these recordings are rock solid and legal, which Game's management is well aware of. Game's current management has never made a request to us to stop selling these records and they have no legal ground to do so anyway. Intimidation certainly will not work with us."