Dua Lipa wins 'Levitating' copyright case against reggae band Artikal Sound System
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The copyright action regarding Dua Lipa's popular song 'Levitating' has been dismissed. In Los Angeles federal court, District Judge Sunshine Sykes found that Artikal Sound System, the Florida reggae group that accused Lipa, had not proven that the authors of 'Levitating' having "access" to their song 'Live Your Life' that they claimed she had plagiarized, Reuters reported.
The group said during the hearing that 'Live Your Life' was played at many shows, and a CD with the song sold hundreds of copies, They claimed that their song was accessible through several streaming sites. Sykes said this was not enough to demonstrate the song was widely disseminated enough that the 'Levitating' songwriters could have heard and copied it.
The judge cited 'Plaintiffs’ failure to specify how frequently they performed 'Live Your Life' as a reason
“Plaintiffs’ failure to specify how frequently they performed “Live Your Life” publicly during the specified period, where these performances took place, and the size of the venues and/or audiences precludes the Court from finding that Plaintiffs’ live performances of the song plausibly contributed to its saturation of markets in which Defendants would have encountered it,” the judge wrote as per a report in Billboard.
The British pop artist, 27, and musical label Warner Records were sued by the band Artikal Sound System in March of last year on the grounds that the hook of her song 2020 was lifted from their hit from the previous year. Skyes said the group failed to argue that writers of 'Levitating' had access to the group's 2017 song 'Love Your Life'.
Sykes provided the group with a chance to submit a fresh complaint. She also denied the group's desire to have its case heard in New York alongside another infringement claim brought up by songwriters Sandy Linzer and L Russell Brown regarding apparent similarities between 'Levitating' and their disco tunes 'Wiggle and Giggle All Night and 'Don Diablo.'
Artikal Sound System's other theory
Artikal Sound System's other theory was, one of Lipa's collaborators had previously collaborated with a woman who was purportedly taught guitar by one band member's brother-in-law. Judge Sykes, however, wasn't impressed as per Billboard. “These attenuated links, which bear little connection to either of the two musical compositions at issue here, also do not suggest a reasonable likelihood that defendants actually encountered plaintiffs’ song,” the judge wrote.
Although Monday's ruling dismissed the lawsuit against Lipa, however, the case isn’t over. The judge ruled that Artikal Sound System could try to fix the mistakes she had identified and refiled a so-called amended complaint.