Dua Lipa Facing Two Copyright Suits For Song “Levitating”

Singer Dua Lipa is facing copyright infringement suits from two different groups who claim she stole elements of their tracks for her 2020 hit single “Levitating” which was part of her album Future Nostalgia.

The first complaint was filed in Los Angeles on March 1 by the reggae band Artikal Sound System. The short complaint claims it was “highly unlikely that ‘Levitating’ was created independently.”

They will need to prove if Dua Lipa truly had “access” to an early version of their song as they claimed, and the suit did not reveal that reasoning yet. Even as a musical layman, it’s hard to discount the similarities between the musical production of the two tracks, but it remains to be seen whether their short and sparse legal argument will be held up in court.

Later that same week, the singer was hit with another lawsuit by songwriters Sandy Linzer and L. Russell Brown, who claim she ripped off two of their songs: 1979 single “Wiggle and Giggle” and 1980 single “Don Diablo.”

Lawyers for the pair said Dua Lipa “levitated away plaintiffs’ intellectual property,” by ripping off their vocal melodies from the vintage tracks for “Levitating.” This suit provided comparisons of the compositions of both songs and argued that Dua Lipa would have “reasonable access” to both tracks because of their prevalence on internet archives.

The writing team’s lawyers argued that this “signature melody is the most listened to and recognizable part of the infringing works and plays a crucial role in their popularity.”

The “One Kiss” singer has not tipped her hand yet as to how she’ll be responding to these complaints legally. She has been in the midst of an international tour named after Future Nostalgia, the very album that has the infringing single on it.