In 2015, Tom Petty was awarded a songwriting credit for Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me” due to its resemblance to “Don’t Back Down.” And now, Rolling Stone reports, Sam Smith is facing a copyright infringement lawsuit over another of their big hits, the 2019 Normani duet “Dancing With A Stranger.”

In a complaint filed in federal court in Los Angeles on Friday, songwriters Jordan Vincent, Christopher Miranda, and Rosco Banlaoi claim that Smith’s “Dancing With A Stranger” copies essential elements — including the title, chorus, composition, and music video — from Vincent’s 2017 “Dancing With Strangers.”

“The hook/chorus in both songs — the most significant part and artistic aspect of these works — contains the lyrics ‘dancing with a stranger’ being sung over a nearly identical melody and musical composition,” they allege. “Both videos consist of a girl performing interpretive dance alone in a minimalist studio, interspersed with shots of the male vocalist.”

“A girl dancing alone is not an obvious visual theme for a music video titled ‘Dancing With A Stranger,’ tending to dispel any notion that this similarity is a coincidence,” the complaint continues. “When the extraordinary musical similarity between the songs is also factored in, it becomes even more apparent that it is impossible that the infringing composition and sound recording were independently created.”

Smith, their co-writers Tor Erik Hermansen and James John Napier, and members of Normani’s team allegedly had access to Vincent’s song, its music video, and the video’s call sheet through Thrive Records, which was sent the materials in 2015 because the label was “extremely interested in using the plaintiff’s song for another artist” although “the deal never went through.”

“Another suspicious coincidence is that the call sheet for plaintiff’s music video specifically mentioned using the visual concept of mannequins coming to life,” the suit argues. “Although this concept was not ultimately utilized in plaintiff’s music video, Normani and the director of defendants’ music video gave an interview in 2019 discussing how defendants wanted to use porcelain statues coming to life for their music video. The odds that such a unique but highly similar idea would have come independently to defendants are astronomical, especially considering the other shared similarities.”

“As a result of defendants’ exploitation of plaintiff’s song without permission, they obtained a massive international hit single which generated significant revenue and profits,” the lawsuit states. Vincent is seeking real and punitive damages and also lists Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group, EMI Music Publishing as defendants.

“Defendants’ representatives were contacted in November 2020 about the similarities. Defendants were given every chance to come up with an innocent explanation, but, despite assurances that a response was coming including a musicological analysis and report, the defendants never issued a response,” the complaint concludes. “This suit is being filed as a last resort.”