Dua Lipa hires Katy Perry lawyer to handle ‘Levitating’ lawsuits

[Teletubby 69,726]

Facing a pair of copyright lawsuits over her song “Levitating,” Dua Lipa has lawyered up – hiring the same attorney who won similar cases for Katy Perry, Jay-Z and Drake.

Dua has retained Christine Lepera and her law firm Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp to represent her in both lawsuits, court records show, including one filed in New York that claims she ripped off a 1979 disco track, and another in California that claims she stole material from a 2017 reggae song.

Lepera is a go-to defense attorney in such cases. In just the last two years, she has won rulings defeating such cases against Jay-Z – he was accused of illegally sampling a 1960s soul song on “Paper Chase” – and against Drake, who was sued for using a spoken-word jazz track in his 2013 song “Pound Cake.”

Most recently, Lepera won a blockbuster ruling at a federal appeals court clearing Katy Perry of stealing elements of her 2013 smash hit “Dark Horse” from an earlier song called “Joyful Noise.” The decision not only avoided millions in damages against Katy but included precedent-setting case law, stressing that infringement lawsuits should not be brought over basic musical “building blocks.”

source

[NATAH 10,339]

is that reggae one still going ahead with this? 

[Dojo 15,535]

i feel so bad for that band, clearly they will lose money they don't have

 

[Admin 23,052]

43 minutes ago, dojo said:

i feel so bad for that band, clearly they will lose money they don't have

That’s what they deserve.

[RainingOnMe 6,920]

11 minutes ago, Admin said:

That’s what they deserve.

Not when Levitating clearly stole multiple elements from it. Not saying that's Dua's fault, but still, it's undeniable.

[MANiCURE 6 9,566]

10 minutes ago, RainingOnMe said:

Not when Levitating clearly stole multiple elements from it. Not saying that's Dua's fault, but still, it's undeniable.

Not when they are the ones that stole these elements.

[ssslyboy 2,384]

17 minutes ago, RainingOnMe said:

Not when Levitating clearly stole multiple elements from it. Not saying that's Dua's fault, but still, it's undeniable.

Nothing's clear yet.  Good chance the reggae song was recorded and posted to Soundcloud (with a retroactive date) after Levitating was released

Edited May 27 by ssslyboy

[RainingOnMe 6,920]

28 minutes ago, ssslyboy said:

Nothing's clear yet.  Good chance the reggae song was recorded and posted to Soundcloud (with a retroactive date) after Levitating was released

I highly doubt that. Who would go out of their way to fake that knowing the backlash and Dua countersuing would cause them to lose every penny they own? Nobody would risk their entire lives' savings for a scam. But with that being said, I'm not blaming Dua, but more on the producers.

[Dojo 15,535]

3 minutes ago, RainingOnMe said:

I highly doubt that. Who would go out of their way to fake that knowing the backlash and Dua countersuing would cause them to lose every penny they own? Nobody would risk their entire lives' savings for a scam. But with that being said, I'm not blaming Dua, but more on the producers.

someone didn't got the preliminary facts of this shady case

[RainingOnMe 6,920]

6 minutes ago, dojo said:

someone didn't got the preliminary facts of this shady case

There's 0 proof that they "replaced a post from before levitating came out" with a song that was made after. I've done my research, clearly you're talking about yourself, lol.

[Regina George 58,579]

15 minutes ago, RainingOnMe said:

I highly doubt that. Who would go out of their way to fake that knowing the backlash and Dua countersuing would cause them to lose every penny they own? Nobody would risk their entire lives' savings for a scam. But with that being said, I'm not blaming Dua, but more on the producers.

They literally released their album the day the news came out about her “copying” them. That song was no where to be found besides the soundcloud and even with all of the backlash that saying “every publicity is a good publicity” stands. Let’s not be delusional. 

ALSO before they made claims about Dua that song literally had 2 views. AS IF Dua or her team could EVER find or hear that song. 

Edited May 27 by Regina George

[Dojo 15,535]

3 minutes ago, RainingOnMe said:

There's 0 proof that they "replaced a post from before levitating came out" with a song that was made after. I've done my research, clearly you're talking about yourself, lol.

 

i am confident and optimistic that justice will be served in favor of Dua and the producers. 

[ssslyboy 2,384]

30 minutes ago, RainingOnMe said:

I highly doubt that. Who would go out of their way to fake that knowing the backlash and Dua countersuing would cause them to lose every penny they own? Nobody would risk their entire lives' savings for a scam. But with that being said, I'm not blaming Dua, but more on the producers.

Yeah but some would argue: why would Dua and her producers so blatantly rip off another song from an obscure band, without even trying to change the song enough to disguise it?  And I go back to what I said when this lawsuit first surfaced: why did the lawsuit appear only after the song became the biggest smash of 2021?  Why didn't they bring the lawsuit when album was released, or at latest once she started to have other hits from the album and the album became huge?  This is not necessarily a slam dunk win for the obscure reggae band.

[MonsterofFame 1,542]

More importantly, Christine Lepera is the same lawyer representing Dr. Luke in all his cases against Kesha. She seems like a complete snake after reading some of the written depositions between her and Gaga.

[Guillaume Hamon 3,329]

I mean even if it was only available on some small SoundCloud it's still possible it was copied.

If anything, copying obscure acts makes it easier to claim you never heard about them and boost your chances that, at worst, they'll settle with you since they can't pay all the legal fees for long ass trials.