Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and Normani face copyright lawsuits
Dua Lipa, Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran are facing copyright lawsuits. Dua Lipa is hit with two copyright lawsuits over her 2020 hit “Levitating”. Last week, Florida-based reggae band Artikal Sound System sued the singer for allegedly plagiarising their song “Live Your Life”.
In the suit, the band alleges that “on information and belief”, the defendants (Warner Bros as the record label included) listened to and copied its said song before and during the time when they were writing “Levitating”. It said that both songs are “substantially similar” and according to them it signifies “copyright infringement”.
In less than a week after that lawsuit, another lawsuit was filed against Dua Lipa. Songwriters L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer accused her of copying their 1979 disco track “Wiggle and Giggle All Night”. Brown and Linzer also hold the copyright to the 1980 song “Don Diablo” by Miguel Bosé, which had infringed on “Wiggle and Giggle All Night”.
They claim that the opening melody to “Levitating” was a “duplicate” of the melody to the songs as they found some similarities in the rhythmic delivery of the opening phrases in the verses, before the melodies diverged. The plaintiffs are seeking an unspecified amount, but say that they've suffered damages "including lost profits to be proven at trial".
British singer songwriter Ed Sheeran is taken to court in a copyright lawsuit filed by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue who claimed that the singer’s 2017 single “Shape of You” copies parts of their song “Oh Why” which was released in March 2015. Sheeran was accused of being a “magpie” who “borrows” ideas from other artists.
Ed Sheeran, however, testified that he has not stolen ideas from songwriters for one of his mega-hits. Before this case, Sheeran was also reported to have previously given the writers of TLC’s “No Scrubs” a credit on “Shape of You” after similarities were noted between the two.
Sam Smith is sued for copyright infringement over his 2019 song “Dancing with a Stranger” along with Normani who is featured in the song. The lawsuit was filed by Jordan Vincent, Christopher Miranda and Rosco Banlaoi who allege that the song has the "same" chorus and composition with Vincent's 2017 song with a similar title “Dancing With Strangers”.
“The hook/chorus in both songs — the most significant part and artistic aspect of these works — contains the lyrics ‘dancing with a stranger’ being sung over a nearly identical melody and musical composition,” the complaint reads.
The lawsuit also notes the similarities between the two songs’ music videos. Both are showing “a girl performing interpretive dance alone in a minimalist studio”, which is “not an obvious visual theme for a music video titled ‘Dancing With A Stranger’”.
The plaintiff is seeking real and punitive damages and named Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group and EMI Music Publishing on the list of defendants.