A US judge has dismissed a claim by two disco songwriters that Dua Lipa copied her single Levitating from two of their songs, stressing that to find in their favour would “completely foreclose” the evolution of the genre.
In 2022, L Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer accused the singer of breach of copyright over their 1979 song Wiggle and Giggle All Night and their 1980 song Don Diablo on the single from her 2020 album Future Nostalgia.
Judge Katherine Polk Failla ruled that the songs only shared generic similarities that exist outside copyright, including the “patter style” of delivery which features one syllable per note, as used by Mozart and Gilbert and Sullivan, and the rapid tempo recognisable from songs such as the Bee Gees’ Stayin’ Alive.
The songwriters alleged that Levitating – which spent 43 non-consecutive weeks in the UK Top 40 – took its opening melody and phrasing from their song, describing it as a “duplicate”.
The judge wrote: “The court finds that a musical style, defined by plaintiffs as ‘pop with a disco feel,’ and a musical function, defined by plaintiffs to include ‘entertainment and dancing,’ cannot possibly be protectable … To hold otherwise would be to completely foreclose the further development of music in that genre or for that purpose.”
Lawyers for Brown and Linzer told Billboard they “respectfully disagreed” with the ruling and would appeal. “This case has always been about standing up for the enduring value of original songwriting, and we continue to believe in the strength of Mr Brown and Mr Linzer’s creative legacy,” said attorney Jason T Brown. “There’s a growing disconnect between how these cases are decided – by academically analysing briefs, bar lines and musical notation – v how audiences actually experience music.”
The Guardian has contacted representatives for Lipa.
Lipa previously won another copyright case over Levitating, in which the Florida reggae group Artikal Sound System claimed that it stole the chorus from their 2015 song Live Your Life.
A judge ruled that there was no proof that Lipa and her co-writers Clarence Coffee Jr, Sarah Hudson and Stephen Kozmeniuk had access to the Artikal Sound System song.
Levitating remains subject to a third lawsuit from featured artist Bosko Kante, who said his contribution to the song, vocals sung through a talk box, had been used on remixes without his permission.
Lipa is currently touring her 2024 album Radical Optimism in Australia and promoting a fifth-anniversary reissue of Future Nostalgia, including a remix of the song Physical with Australian singer Troye Sivan.
