Dua Lipa sued over copyright in ‘Levitating’
Aug 2, 2023, 9:13 PM
English singer-songwriter Dua Lipa poses on the pink carpet upon arrival for the European premiere of "Barbie" in central London on July 12. Mandatory Credit: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
New York (CNN) — Dua Lipa’s hit song ‘Levitating’ is back in court.
The star and Warner Music Group are facing a multi-million dollar federal lawsuit in Los Angeles from musician Bosko Kante over copyright claims for the song, which spent 77 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.
In a lawsuit filed July 31, Kante claimed the British singer used a talk box recording, made with a device worn around the neck that lets the user shape sounds of a synthesizer or guitar through their mouth, without his permission in three remixes of “Levitating.”
It’s the third lawsuit to hit Lipa over the 2020 hit. In June, a court dismissed a complaint from the reggae group Artikal Sound System. She is involved in ongoing litigation with songwriters L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer.
Kante founded and created the mobile talk box company ElectroSpit.
The lawsuit claims music producer Stephen Kozmeniuk approached Kante to create a talk box performance of “Levitating.” Though there was no written contract, Kante claimed they explicitly said the performance would only be used in the original recording and would not be further sampled or re-used.
One of the remixes that allegedly used the recording is the version with rapper DaBaby, which has more than 1.8 billion plays on Spotify alone.
The lawsuit claims Kante is entitled to more than $20 million.
Stars from Taylor Swift to Bad Bunny have been engaged in legal battles over the rights to their music.
Earlier this year, Bad Bunny and some of the music industry’s biggest stars wanted a lawsuit that alleges copyright infringement of a 1989 song thrown out of court. The case concerns musical compositions sampled by over 100 artists in more than 1,600 songs. In May, a Manhattan jury found Ed Sheeran did not infringe upon the copyright of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” in his hit “Thinking Out Loud.”
CNN has reached out to Warner Music Group and representatives for Dua Lipa for comment.
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