After Ed Sheeran in early May, it’s British-Albanian singer Dua Lipa’s turn to win a lawsuit for plagiarism. She was being sued by reggae band Artikal Sound System, who claimed her song had been so successful that the songwriters of Levitating had to hear it. A success which, according to them, can be explained by the fact that they would have played it in concerts, would have sold “several hundred” CDs and that the song was available on listening platforms. Argument inadmissible for Judge Sykes, who considered it “too generic or too insubstantial. »
According to Billboard, the judge noted several missing elements in the speech of the reggae group. “The fact that the plaintiffs do not specify how often they performed Live your life in public during the specified period, where these performances took place and the size of the rooms and/or the public, prevents the court from concluding that the plaintiffs’ live renditions of the song plausibly contributed to its saturation of the markets in which the defendants would have encountered it. »
Artikal Sound System also advanced a complicated thesis to justify its complaint. “One of Dua Lipa’s co-writers had previously worked with a woman who was allegedly taught guitar by a bandmate’s brother-in-law.” For the judge, these “attenuated links” are insufficient. However, she gave them a second chance, giving them the opportunity to come back with a more complete file until June 16 maximum. However, the band said it did not want to amend its complaint and was dropping the lawsuits, according to RollingStone magazine.
Dua Lipa’s hit was a hit in 2020, staying 77 weeks in the Billboard Hot 100. But it has also brought its share of difficulties to the singer, who is not on her first trial for plagiarism on this title. Musicians Russel Brown and Sandy Linzer had also filed a complaint, claiming that the singer had copied their titles Wiggle and Giggle All Night, dating from 1979, and Don Diablo, released in 1980.
