Dua Lipa’s ‘Levitating’ copyright infringement case has been dismissed.
The 27-year-old pop star’s 2020 mega-hit was accused of ripping off Artikal Sound System’s 2017 reggae single ‘Live Your Life’, with the singer and her label Warner Records sued.
The band said they believe Dua and her team heard their song and came up with a carbon copy in ‘Levitating’.
However, on Tuesday (06.07.23), US District Judge Sunshine Sykes said that Artikal Sound System had no way of proving that Dua and her team had access to their song, Reuters reports.
They are able to file a new lawsuit should they wish to, with their attorney Stewart Levy stating that they are contemplating their next move.
Furthermore, the judge refused to allow them to move the case from Los Angeles to New York, where another ‘Levitating’ copyright case will be heard by songwriters Sandy Linzer and L. Russell Brown.
The pair have claimed their 1979 song ‘Wiggle And Giggle All Night’ and 1980’s ‘Don Diablo’, which were performed by Cory Daye and Miguel Bosé, respectively, also resemble Dua’s chart hit.
Documents obtained by Billboard last year noted that: “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 duo accused Dua of having “deliberately emulated prior eras”.
Their lawyers added that: “In seeking nostalgic inspiration, defendants copied plaintiffs’ creation without attribution.
“Defendants have levitated away plaintiffs’ intellectual property. Plaintiffs bring suit so that defendants cannot wiggle out of their wilful infringement.”
As well as Dua and Warner, DaBaby, the rapper who featured on a remix of ‘Levitating’, were named in the lawsuit.
Dua previously admitted she never expected ‘Levitating’ – which featured on her chart-topping album ‘Future Nostalgia’ – to become such a big hit.
She confessed: “I can never preempt what song people are going to react to the best but ‘Levitating’ was the first song that helped dictate the rest of the album.”