US EditionDua Lipa Wins ‘Levitating’ Copyright Case With Ruling Dismissing Infringement Lawsuit
- In 2022, Dua Lipa was sued in two separate copyright infringement cases over her 2020 hit song "Levitating," one by Artikal Sound System and another by L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer, both alleging she copied key elements from their earlier songs.
- The lawsuits were based on claims that "Levitating" plagiarized the 1979 disco track "Wiggle and Giggle All Night" and the 1980s song "Don Diablo" by Brown and Linzer, and the 2015 reggae song "Live Your Life" by Artikal Sound System.
- US Judge Katherine Polk Failla dismissed the Brown and Linzer case in a New York court, ruling that the songs only shared generic, non-copyrightable musical elements, such as a descending scale and a 'patter style' used in music for centuries, including by Mozart, Gilbert and Sullivan, and the Bee Gees.
- While the court acknowledged that a layperson might hear similarities, Judge Failla cited the Structured Asset Sales v. Ed Sheeran case as precedent, stating that a musical style or function, such as 'pop with a disco feel' or 'entertainment and dancing,' cannot be protected by copyright law, echoing the Sheeran case where common, unprotectible elements were used.
- Despite the dismissal, lawyers for Brown and Linzer, including Jason T. Brown, expressed their disagreement and intention to appeal, arguing that juries should be allowed to hear and judge the similarities, emphasizing the enduring value of original songwriting, while Dua Lipa continues her year-long Radical Optimism world tour in Australia.
42 Articles
42 Articles
Dua Lipa wins Levitating copyright case
British pop star Dua Lipa has scored another legal victory after a US court dismissed a copyright claim against her hit single Levitating, ruling that the song did not unlawfully copy from two disco tracks from the late 1970s and early 1980s. The lawsuit was brought by songwriters L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer, who alleged that Lipa’s track borrowed heavily from their songs Wiggle and Giggle… Source
Dua Lipa Wins 'Levitating' Copyright Case as Judge Dismisses Infringement Lawsuit
A judge has ruled that the pop star did not plagiarize the songs "Wiggle and Giggle All Night" and "Don Diablo"Kevin Winter/Getty Dua Lipa in February 2024A copyright lawsuit against Dua Lipa over her hit "Levitating" has been dismissedThe 2022 lawsuit claimed the pop megastar ripped off the L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer-penned disco song "Wiggle and Giggle All Night"According to L. Russell and Linzer's attorney Jason T. Brown, the pair pla…
The Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Dua Lipa Over ‘Levitating’ Has Been Dismissed
Getty Image A copyright infringement lawsuit against Dua Lipa over her 2017 hit “Levitating” has been dismissed, according to Billboard. The lawsuit in question was the second of three separate lawsuits against the British singer, and was filed in 2022, after a previous case, filed earlier that year, was dismissed by a judge who doubted the veracity of the plaintiff’s claims. This second suit was filed by songwriters L. Russell Brown and Sandy L…
Dua Lipa wins copyright lawsuit
Pop star Dua Lipa won a copyright lawsuit filed against her by songwriters L Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer, who claimed her hit single Levitating infringed songs of theirs from 1979 and 1980. Judge Katherine Pok Failla ruled that only "generic similarities" were shared between the tracks and that the descending singsong melody under scrutiny had already been used by Mozart and Gilbert and Sullivan—and found earlier at the disco thanks to the Be…
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