Nicki Minaj Wants Jury to Resolve Copyright 'Who Done It?' in Battle With Tracy Chapman

A week later, "Sorry" did premiere on New York radio, and it was then posted by the radio station on the Internet. Chapman kept issuing DMCA takedown notices and is now in the midst of a copyright case that her lawyers call a "textbook example of willful copyright infringement."

Isn't the Instagram conversation proof? Well, not so fast, says Minaj.

"At the time I sent these messages, I intended to send Flex a copy of Sorry to play on his radio program," she testified. "That day, however, I had a change of heart. I never sent the recording."

Minaj added that when she learned that Flex had gotten a copy, she told him, "You can only play official album material sir."

Flex testified that he received the recording from one of his "bloggers." One recording engineer in the studio with Minaj and Nas confirmed that he didn't pass along "Sorry" to Flex. Given all this, Minaj's attorney Peter Ross writes that the "evidence, in many instances directly contradicts Chapman's story" that Minaj passed along the contraband. It "leaves open many possibilities as to 'who done it?'"

Is a trial appropriate? Minaj's attorneys seems to suggest it is. They're even hinting as possible other culprits.

"We do not know to whom management, the record label, or the clearance team may have sent a copy," continues a summary judgment opposition. "And Nas had a copy, as Chapman notes in her own motion. He, of course, would be an obvious target, if Flex and his interns were reaching out to a source to find the recording."

This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.