Dua Lipa scored a legal victory when a New York judge dismissed a copyright lawsuit over her hit song “Levitating.” The lawsuit was filed by L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer, who accused Lipa of copying elements from their 1979 and 1980 tracks, “Wiggle and Giggle All Night” and “Don Diablo,” respectively.
Brown and Linzer claimed that the opening melody of “Levitating” closely resembled their songs and that Lipa had admitted to drawing inspiration from past eras to create a retro sound. However, Judge Katherine Polk Failla ruled that the similarities were not copyrightable, citing a common musical scale used in all three songs, which was not protectable under copyright law.
The judge referenced a 2023 case where Ed Sheeran won a copyright lawsuit over allegations of copying Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” Failla concluded that the similarity between the songs only involved non-copyrightable elements and dismissed the infringement claim.
Jason T. Brown, the attorney for Brown and Linzer, stated they disagreed with the ruling and planned to appeal. He argued that courts are increasingly focusing on technical legal analysis rather than how listeners experience the music.
Lipa is still facing a separate copyright lawsuit over the use of a talkbox recording on remixes of “Levitating,” filed by producer Bosko Kante in 2023.
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