Copyright Lawsuit Against Dua Lipa Dismissed

Dua Lipa has won the dismissal of a copyright lawsuit levelled at her song, Levitating.

As Reuters reports, Florida reggae group Artikal Sound System alleged that Lipa’s 2020 mammoth hit ripped off their 2017 track, Live Your Life.

While the lawsuit has been dismissed, U.S. District Judge Sunshine Sykes has agreed that Artikal Sound System can file a new complaint but denied the band from having their case heard in New York (this case was heard in Los Angeles).

The lawsuit was originally filed against Lipa in 2022 after Levitating spent 77 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. The track peaked at #2 in 2021.

Artikal Sound System wanted this case heard in New York instead alongside another lawsuit, where songwriters Sandy Linzer and L. Russell Brown claimed that Levitating ripped off the “signature melody” of their song, Wiggle And Giggle All Night, released in 1979. You can read the judge's full opinion on the matter here.

Representatives for Lipa didn’t immediately respond to Reuters for comment.

Earlier this week, Lipa spoke out about the UK government’s “short-sighted and small-minded” views on Albanian migrants.

For context: last October, the UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman used a parliamentary speech to take a jab at “Albanian criminals”, arguing that open borders would be detrimental to Britain’s cultural landscape.

Lipa – who was born in London to Kosovo-Albanian parents – responded to Braverman’s comment, saying in a new interview with The Sunday Times: “Of course, it hurt. All those words thrown around about immigrants? I always felt London was an amalgamation of cultures. It is integral to the city. So when you hear the government talk about Albanians, for example, it hurts.”

She continued to label those views as “short-sighted and small-minded”, conceding that it is “the way a lot of people think”. Lipa added: “No matter how we try and change the rhetoric, there will always be those who think, ‘Immigrants are coming into the country and taking jobs!’ However, immigrants who have come here have earned their keep by working incredibly hard.

“There needs to be more empathy because people don’t leave their country unless they have to out of necessity, out of fear for their family.”

In late May, Lipa released her Barbie soundtrack offering, Dance The Night. Produced by Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt, and the Picard Brothers, the new track echoes Ronson's current style, with whirlwind strings, sparkling synths and a stomping beat.

The song follows the same sonic realm as Dua Lipa’s last album, Future Nostalgia, with a lot of references to the 80s in both releases. Check out the music video below.