Rosa Parks v. Outkast set for trial

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DETROIT, June 7 (UPI) -- A lawsuit filed by civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks of Detroit against hip hop icon Outkast goes to trial next January, the Detroit News reported Monday.

Outkast recorded a song in 1998 entitled "Rosa Parks" with the lyrics, "Hush that fuss/ Everybody move to the back of the bus."

To date, two albums featuring the song have sold more than 3 million copies and racked up more than $46 million in sales "by exploiting Parks' name without her consent," her lawsuit claims.

A jury trial has been set for Jan. 10 by U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald Scheer, who will hold a hearing July 13 to decide whether to compel Parks to give a deposition.

The 91-year-old Detroit woman led the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott in 1955 that forced the city to rescind a policy requiring African-Americans to sit in the back of public buses or give up their seats to white passengers.

In March 2003 a U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling that had thrown out Parks' lawsuit, and the Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

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