The British artist has just received her third plagiarism lawsuit related to this song. In this case, it involves one of the original song’s collaborators, Bosco Kante, who created a talk box (a device that changes the sound of a musical instrument) at the request of one of the producers of the London singer.
However, Kante did not give permission for its use in subsequent remixes of the song, like the version featuring DaBaby, which became even more popular.
The lawsuit was filed in a federal court on July 31st, after the “Plaintiff made numerous attempts to resolve this matter short of litigation, but such efforts were unsuccessful, due to Defendants’ unwillingness to cooperate or accept responsibility for this blatant infringement of Plaintiff’s copyrights,” stated Kante’s lawyers in a statement reported by Billboard.
What Kante specifies is that he reached a verbal agreement regarding the use of his talk box in the original version of ‘Levitating,’ but, as said before, not for its subsequent remixes and versions.
All three remixes sampled and incorporated a greater amount of plaintiff’s work than that used in the original version. Defendants did not seek or receive any authorization or permission to use the composition or sound recording of plaintiff’s work from plaintiff” –Kante’s lawyers wrote.
Lawsuits
Currently, Dua Lipa’s team is managing this new case with the same level of confidentiality as they did with the two previous litigations. As of today, the number of cases has been reduced from 3 to 2, as one of them was dismissed due to insufficient evidence.
We’re referring to the lawsuit filed by the reggae band Artikal Sound System. In March 2022, the band alleged that Lipa had taken the central hook of her song from their track titled ‘Live Your Life.’
Shortly after, songwriters L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer accused Lipa of using the melody in her song from their 1979 song ‘Wiggle and Giggle All Night’ and their 1980 song ‘Don Diablo.’
However, Artikal Sound System dropped their case shortly after a federal judge ruled that there was no evidence of anyone involved in creating ‘Levitating’ having access to the earlier song. This is a crucial factor in any copyright lawsuit.
While the case brought forward by Brown and Linzer remains ongoing, Lipa’s lawyers present a similar argument, affirming that the singer «has never heard» the two songs she is accused of copying.
It’s likely that Dua Lipa’s legal team will employ a similar strategy to the one used in the dismissed Artikal Sound System case. However, we’ll have to wait and see how the proceedings unfold and whether Dua Lipa’s team decides to go to court or not.
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