A judge halted sales of the Notorious B.I.G.'s 1994 debut Ready To Die on Friday (March 17) after a jury decided the title track used part of the Ohio Players' "Singing In The Morning" without permission.

The jury awarded $4.2 million in damages to the two music companies, Bridgeport Music and Westbound Records, which own rights to Ohio Players recordings. The companies also own rights to songs from George Clinton and The Funkadelics.

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

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.

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 told reporters.

The estate of Notorious B.I.G. was originally sued but was dropped later as a defendant.

In related news, Biggie's estate did receive some good news this week. A new set of Los Angeles Police detectives have been assigned to take a second look at the 1997 shooting that killed the rapper. This news came just over a week after March 9, the date of Biggie's death.