Dua Lipa says she’s ‘never heard’ disco tracks named in ‘Levitating’ lawsuit
Dua Lipa says that she’s “never heard” the disco tracks at the centre of a copyright infringement lawsuit alleging she copied her 2020 hit “Levitating”.
In March this year, songwriters L Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer accused the 27-year-old pop star of plagiarising their 1979 song “Wiggle and Giggle All Night” and another 1980 track “Don Diablo”, which Brown and Linzer now own after proving it infringed on “Wiggle”.
In a letter to a federal judge in New York, obtained by Billboard on Tuesday (30 August), Lipa’s lawyer have asked that the lawsuit be dismissed immediately, on the grounds that she’s “never heard” either of the songs that the plaintiffs allege she copied,
In the filing, Lipa’s attorney Chritine Lepera wrote: “The complaint alleges defendants purportedly had access to ‘Wiggle’ and ‘Don Diablo’ because they both ‘can be found on popular streaming services’.
“However, there are many millions of musical recordings available on streaming services, and the mere availability of recordings on those services does not establish wide dissemination.”
In the letter to US District Judge Honourable Katherine Polk Failla, Lepera said that the “alleged similarities [such as] a descending scale in which each pitch is repeated on evenly spaced notes, and a common clave rhythm” between the songs are “unprotectable” since they are due to the “coincidental use of basic musical building blocks”.
In a filing from 4 March 2022, Brown and Linzer claimed the “signature melody“ from the beginning of “Levitating” has been copied from their own songs, calling it a “duplicate”.
They also said the segment of the melody in question contributed to the chart-topping song’s viral success on TikTok and Instagram.
The legal document reads: “The signature melody is the most listened to and recognisable part of the infringing works and plays a crucial role in their popularity. Because video creators frequently truncate the already brief snippets of sound on TikTok, the signature melody often comprises fifty percent or more of these viral videos.”
The plaintiffs also claimed that Lipa has previously admitted to having “deliberately emulated prior eras” and “[taking] inspiration” from old music in order to create a “retro” sound.
Lepera, who also represents the co-writers of “Levitating” as well as co-defendants Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music, and Warner Records, noted that the accusers had failed to provide evidence that Lipa and her team had come in contact with their songs.
“With respect to ‘Wiggle,’ the complaint merely alleges it achieved certain success in the Netherlands four decades ago. This does not establish ‘saturation’, and there is no allegation that the songwriters of ‘Levitating’ were in the Netherlands – or, indeed, had even been born – at that time,” she wrote.
“With respect to ‘Don Diablo,’ the complaint alleges it has been performed at certain times in Latin America; again, these allegations do not establish ‘saturation’ or that the ‘Levitating’ writers participated in the Latin American market at the relevant times,” Lepera continued in the legal filing, per Rolling Stone.
Brown and Linzer’s attorney Jason T Brown said they were preparing to file a “full rebuttal” to Lipa’s response later this week, in a statement to Billboard.
Brown also told the publication that his clients “respectfully disagree with their interpretation of the law and their selective citation of the facts”.
In addition to Brown and Linzer’s lawsuit, Lipa also faces another copyright claim over “Levitating”, which spent 77 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart after its release.
Florida-based reggae band Artikal Sound System also sued Lipa for copyright infringement for allegedly lifting elements of the 2020 track from their 2017 song “Live Your Life”.
