Dua Lipa Facing Second Copyright Lawsuit Over “Levitating”
Last week, Dua Lipa was sued for copyright infringement by a Floria reggae band over her hit single “Levitating.” Now, the pop star is facing a second copyright lawsuit for the same track. As Billboard reports, songwriters L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer filed a suit on Friday claiming that “Levitating” copies their songs “Wiggle And Giggle All Night” and “Don Diablo,” which were released in 1979 and 1980 and recorded by Cory Daye and Miguel Bosé respectively.
In their suit, Brown and Linzer’s lawyers argued that the “signature melody” from the beginning of “Levitating” is ripped off from their songs. “The signature melody is the most listened to and recognizable part of the infringing works and plays a crucial role in their popularity,” the suit reads. “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 pair point to interviews that Dua Lipa gave in which she “admitted that she deliberately emulated prior eras” for her album Future Nostalgia. “Defendants have levitated away plaintiffs’ intellectual property,” the lawyers wrote. “Plaintiffs bring suit so that defendants cannot wiggle out of their willful infringement.”