British- Albanian singer Dua Lipa falls into another trouble with her single Levitating song. The singer just cleared her former lawsuit a while ago, but she again falls into a problem with yet another lawsuit where a USD 20 million copyright claim was filed by musician Bosko Kante in Los Angeles.
In the remixes of the tune, Bosko Kante alleges that Dua Lipa and Warner Group Music have exploited a recording taken with his talk box without his consent. It is the third time that the singer’s Levitating song is hit by a lawsuit.
The lawsuit refers to a verbal agreement between Bosko Kante and the makers of the song earlier that his talk box recording will be used only in the original recording and not in any subsequent remixes.
He is now suing for more than $20 million over claimed copyright violations involving many remixes, including one with The Blessed Madonna, the popular remix starring rapper Dababy, and a Performance by Dua Lipa at the American Music Awards.
Although Kante has to comment publically on his claim, according to Billboard, the musician has been raising this problem with Dua Lipa and Warner Music group but there was no response from them. Kante reportedly, “tried hard to resolve this issue short of litigations, but all his effort went unsuccessful, due to the defendant’s disinterest and unwillingness to cooperate or accept responsibility for this blatant infringement of Plaintiff’s copyrights.”
According to the lawsuit, more of the plaintiff’s work was sampled and used in the three remixes than it was in the original version. The suits accused the defendants did not request or taking any consent or authorization from Plantiff for the use of the composition or sound recording of Plantiff’s work.
For those who are unfamiliar with the word ‘Talk Box’. Talkbox is a device that enables artists to alter an instrument’s tone and add spoken sounds. Blosko Kante has done talk box performances for Big Boi and Kanye West
Dua Lipa’s other allegations over the song Levitating
The third of three lawsuits has been filed against the song Levitating. The Florida –based reggae group Artikal Sound System filed a lawsuit in March 2022, they claimed that Lipa stole the main hook of Levitating from their 2017 single Live Your Life.
In June 2024, the band decided to dismiss the case, after the judge ruled out that there was insufficient proof, the creators of Levitating and Dua Lipa had access to the earlier track- a crucial component of a copyright infringement lawsuit.
A lawsuit filed by songwriters L Rusell Brown and Sandy Linzer in 2022 is still pending. Lipa’s attorneys are using a similar “access” defense. The songwriters accuse Lipa of copying their songs Don Diablo from 1980 and Wiggle and Giggle All Night from 1979 for Levitating. But according to the singer, she had never heard either of the songs earlier.
Dua Lipa was sued over posting Paparazzi photo
As per US court documents, the singer was snapped at an airport in February 2019, and later she shared the picture with her fans without any permission or authorization. According to the integral images, Lipa benefitted from the photo as her Instagram feed serves as a marketing tool for her music.
They had requested a jury trial and are seeking $150,000 in damages. In addition, this singer was asked to pay the company’s legal fee and for an order banning further violation by the artist.
The US Copyright Office reports that integral pictures submitted a request to register the copyright for the images on February 20, 2021, following Lipa’s Instagram post.
Apart from her legal Case, Dua Lipa has received much recognition throughout her career including six Brits awards, three Grammy Awards, Two MTV Europe Music Awards, Two Billboard awards, an American Music Awards, an MTV video music award, and two Guinness World records.
