DUA LIPA FACES SECOND 'LEVITATING' LAWSUIT: Dua Lipa is facing another copyright lawsuit claiming she used another artists material in her hit song, “Levitating.” According to Billboard, a complaint filed Friday (March 4) in Manhattan federal court accused Lipa of copying songwriters L. Russell Brown Sandy Linzer's 1979 song “Wiggle and Giggle All Night” and 1980 song “Don Diablo.” They said the opening melody to “Levitating” was a “duplicate” of the melody to their songs. Last week, the Florida reggae band Artikal Sound System filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Lipa, claiming that the 2020 Future Nostalgia track rips off their 2017 song “Live Your Life.”
ED SHEERAN IN COURT FOR 'SHAPE OF YOU' LAWSUIT: Ed Sheeran appeared in court Friday (March 4th) for the start of a three-week legal battle over the copyright of “Shape Of You”. Sami Chokri (who performs under Sami Switch) and Ross O’Donoghue claim Sheeran’s 2017 single copies parts of their song “Oh Why”, which was released in March 2015. The Guardian reported that Sheeran was accused in court of being a “magpie” who “borrows” ideas from other artists. He previously gave the writers of TLC’s “No Scrubs” a credit on “Shape of You” after similarities were noted between the two.
SAM SMITH AND NORMANI FACE COPYRIGHT LAWSUIT: Sam Smith and Normani are facing a copyright infringement lawsuit claiming they lifted elements from a 2015 song titled “Dancing With a Stranger” for their 2019 duet of the same name. According to a complaint obtained by Rolling Stone, songwriters Jordan Vincent, Christopher Miranda and Rosco Banlaoi, “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 lawsuit also notes that the music videos for both songs show, “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 lists Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group, EMI Music Publishing on the list of defendants.
