Dua Lipa has emerged victorious in a copyright lawsuit concerning her hit song Levitating from 2020, as a judge has dismissed the case.
Two separate lawsuits were filed against Dua Lipa in March 2022, with one from Artikal Sound System being dismissed in June 2023.
The second lawsuit was from L Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer, which was also dismissed by a judge in New York today.
The judge ruled that the similarities between the songs were not protected under copyright law.
Brown and Linzer alleged that Dua Lipa had copied from their songs Wiggle and Giggle All Night from 1979 and Don Diablo from 1980, claiming that the opening melody of Levitating was a reproduction of their melodies.
However, the judge found that the copyright infringement claim did not hold up as it focused on a descending scale shared by all three songs but with an additional note in Lipa’s version.
The judge cited the 2023 Ed Sheeran copyright case, which Sheeran won after denying claims that he copied Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On by stating that “a chord progression and harmonic rhythm, in combination, could not constitute protectable expression under copyright law”.
Linzer and Brown’s lawyer shared in a statement to Variety that they “respectfully disagree” with the court’s ruling, and intend to appeal.
