A judge halted sales of Notorious B.I.G.'s breakthrough 1994 album "Ready to Die" after a jury decided the title song used part of an Ohio Players tune without permission.

The jury Friday awarded $4.2 million in punitive and direct damages to the two music companies that own rights to Ohio Players recordings.

The sales ban imposed by U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell affects the album and the title song in any form, including Internet downloads and radio play.

It was unclear when or how the ban would take effect. By Saturday evening, a search of BestBuy.com and Amazon.com showed "Ready to Die" was still available for purchase online.

The jury decided that Bad Boy Entertainment and executive producer Sean "Diddy" Combs illegally used a part of the Ohio Players' 1992 song "Singing In The Morning."

Bridgeport Music and Westbound Records, which owned the song rights, have filed hundreds of lawsuits over "sampling," the practice of lifting parts of old music for new recordings. Most were settled out of court.

The companies get most of their income from song royalties by their artists, which include funk legend George Clinton, the Funkadelics and the Ohio Players.

"We've just been battling this for such a long time," Armen Boladian, owner of Westbound and Bridgeport said. "So many have been settled because companies didn't want anything to do with it, and we knew we were right."

The defendants, Bad Boy Entertainment, Bad Boy LLC, Justin Combs Publishing and Universal Records, plan to appeal. "We think (the verdict) is without merit," defense lawyer Jay Bowen said.

The estate of Notorious B.I.G. was originally sued but was dropped later as a defendant. The artist, born Christopher Wallace, was 24 in 1997 when he was killed in a shooting that remains unsolved.

The rotund New York rapper, also known as Biggie Smalls, was one of the most influential hip-hop artists of the 1990s. His albums "Ready To Die" and the posthumously released "Life After Death" together sold nearly 8 million copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

i think sampling should be 100% legal without permission, but you have to pay a flat percentage of sales. maybe depending on length or the sample? i dunno, i'm not a lawyer. but i love me some sampled hip hop and i love artists getting money they deserve.

anyway, i'm going to try and track down that Ohio Players song.

did they seriously just notice this now?

I think its been a back and forth situation, Redworm.

Jewels Von Santanaman--I agree. I mean, sampling is what hip hop is all about. I have to wonder if Vanilla Ice ruined it for everyone. I wonder how much MC Hammer paid out back in the day to Rick James' songholders?

i realized that Ghost is one of few, if any, mainstream rappers who appreciate the talent required to work a sample into a new composition ala Pete Rock, and that's mostly why i love him so much. these keyboard driven beats forced me to give up my youth.