Yellowcard to go ahead with $15m plagiarism lawsuit against Juice Wrld despite rapper's death
Pop-punk rocker Yellowcard is still going ahead with their copyright infringement lawsuit against the rapper Jarad A Higgins aka Juice Wrld, even though the rapper, unfortunately, died on December 8, 2019, after suffering a seizure at Chicago's Midway Airport.
The now-defunct five-piece band had originally filed a case on October 21, 2019, claiming that the rapper's 2018 single 'Lucid Dreams' had plagiarized significant portions of their 2006 track 'Holly Wood Died'.
Yellowcard alleges Juice Wrld and his collaborators took melodic elements of their song without permission. They’re asking for damages in excess of $15 million and a "running royalty and/or ownership share" with regard to the money 'Lucid Dreams' has already made, and will continue to make in the future.
"The high degree of objective similarity between the Original Work and the Infringing Work extends well beyond the possibility of coincidence and could only reasonably be the result of an act of copying,” the lawsuit concludes.
The case was notable because, according to the producer of 'Lucid Dreams', Nicholas Mira, a large portion of the royalties from the song had already gone to Sting — his track 'Shape of My Heart' was interpolated in the song and Sting received an astounding 85% of the royalties.
Despite Juice Wrld's untimely and tragic death, Yellowcard band members have made their intentions clear to continue with the lawsuit. So, Judge Conseulo B Marshall filed an extension on December 17, which extends the amount of time the defendants get to respond to the lawsuit by almost two months, from December 9 to February 4, 2020.
Along with the deceased Juice Wrld, co-named defendants include 'Lucid Dreams' co-writer Taz Taylor and his publishers, producer Nicholas Mira and his publishers, publishing administrator Songs of Universal, publisher BMG Rights Management, record label Grade A Productions, and Interscope Records.
After the emo-rapper Juice Wrld's death, the song 'Lucid Dreams' hit No.1 on Apple Music and his streams went up by a collective 453%.
Yellowcard's lawyer had previously stated, "This was not a lawsuit the guys wanted to file. They put all of the parties on notice a long while ago and gave them every opportunity to try to resolve it. That notice was pretty much ignored leaving them with no real choice."
"As alleged in the complaint, this is not just a generic emo-rap song but is a blatant copy of significant original compositional elements of 'Holly Wood Died' in several respects. Beyond that, everything we have to say is in the complaint," the lawyer added.
Have a listen to 'Holly Wood Died' here and see for yourself.