Sales of a Notorious BIG album have been halted after a court found it used a sample illegally.

A jury decided that the title track of 1994 album Ready to Die contained part of a song by funk band Ohio Players.

Though the defendants plant to appeal, the judge has stopped sales of the song and its album in any form. The companies who own the rights to Ohio Players' work have also been awarded damages of $4.2m (£2.3m).

Speaking outside the Nashville court, defence lawyer Jay Bowen said: "We think (the verdict) is without merit." He is representing Bad Boy Entertainment, Bad Boy LLC, Justin Combs Publishing and Universal Records, who all have a stake in the song.

The rights to Ohio Players' Singing in the Morning are owned by Bridgeport Music and Westbound Records. Their owner Armen Boladian said they have settled hundreds of similar cases, usually out of court.

"We've just been battling this for such a long time," he explained. "So many have been settled because companies didn't want anything to do with it, and we knew we were right."