Dua Lipa’s ‘Levitating’ achieves hat-trick with lawsuits
Dua Lipa’s song ‘Levitating’ has tangled multiple parties in a legal battle
Dua Lipa’s global hit Levitating continues to make headlines as it has been taken to court thrice since its 2020 release.
The IDGAF singer has won the second copyright infringement lawsuit against L Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer, which began in 2022.
The duo accused Dua of pirating two songs, the 1979 disco track Wiggle And Giggle All Night and the 1980s Don Diablo, both of which they hold the rights to.
However, on March 27, a U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla decreed that the two songs did not share a "substantial similarity" with the 29-year-old’s more recent anthem and dismissed the claims.
Surprisingly enough, this isn’t the first time the electro-disco song has been sued, with its first lawsuit coming from Florida reggae band Artikal Sound System, alleging that the song imitated the chorus from their track Live Your Life which came out in 2015.
As per a BBC report, this legal battle also ended up going nowhere, as a judge ruled insufficient evidence that the singer or her co-writers had “access” to the number in 2023.
Despite the latest triumph, Levitating remains under legal pressure with a new contender, musician Bosko Kante, seeking damages worth at least $2 million for his vocal contribution to the track being used in later remixes without his consent.
