Earlier this year, songwriting duo L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer alleged that Dua Lipa “duplicated” the melody for her 2020 track “Levitating” from their songs “Wiggle And A Giggle All Night” and “Don Diablo.” The English musician’s lawyers have now made their opening statements as part of their defense against the copyright infringement claim brought against her. She claims to have had no prior exposure to the two songs named by the accusers, and her team is moving for the case to be dismissed. (NME)
The plaintiff’s complaint pointed out that Lipa has previously said that she “deliberately emulated prior eras” to create a “retro” sound. Brown and Linxer’s attorneys wrote the following: “In seeking nostalgic inspiration, defendants copied plaintiffs’ creation without attribution.”
Lawyer Christine Lepera, who is representing Lipa and the songwriters of “Levitating,” said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Hon. Katherine Polk Failla that the “‘Levitating’ writers never heard the [plaintiffs’] compositions.” She also said that “The alleged similarities … are unprotectable, and the result of the coincidental use of basic musical building blocks.” (Rolling Stone)
Lepera added that the complaint also “fails to plausibly allege a particular chain of events leading to access” and that the lawsuit is “devoid of the necessary showing that ‘Wiggle’ and ‘Don Diablo’ were disseminated widely enough that the songwriters would have heard them in the absence of some sort of special access.” She went on to argue that the “mere availability” of the two songs via streaming platforms isn’t enough considering the “many millions of musical recordings.”
Furthermore, Lepera argued that the complaint doesn’t show ‘Don Diablo’ as having been registered with the US Copyright Office ahead of the lawsuit’s commencement, arguing that “copyright registration is a precondition to filing a claim for copyright infringement.” She concluded by saying, “A complaint that fails to do so must be dismissed.”
Brown and Linzer’s lawsuit was the second complaint that was filed against Lipa in March, 2022. A week prior, Florida reggae band Artikal Sound System filed a complaint accusing Lipa of copying elements from their track “Live Your Life.”
Lipa has until November 12, 2022 to respond to the complaint.
Photo Credit: Kalyn Oyer
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