Dua Lipa gives a wholesome reaction to winning the 'Levitating' copyright case

Dua Lipa Performs In Melbourne - Source: Getty
Dua Lipa performs at Rod Laver Arena during her 'Radical Optimism Tour' in Melbourne, Australia. (Image via Getty/Naomi Rahim)

Dua Lipa has scored a victory in the copyright lawsuit over her massive 2020 hit song Levitating, prompting her to take to Instagram to react wholesomely.

A Florida reggae group named Artikal Sound System levied the copyright lawsuit against the singer back in March 2022, though it was later dismissed in June 2023. Later, L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer launched another suit, though the judge dismissed it today in a New York court, explaining that the similarities between the two songs were not protected under copyright law, Variety has reported.

In turn, the singer shared Billboard's post of the news on her Instagram, and the caption was a single kiss emoji: "💋"


Everything we know about Dua Lipa's legal woes as she faces third legal challenge:

According to BBC News, songwriters L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer accused Dua Lipa of infringing on the copyright of their 1979 track Wiggle and Giggle All Night, as well as the 1980 song Don Diablo.

However, this Thursday, U.S. Judge Katherine Polk Failla ruled that the songs only displayed generic similarities, which included non-copyrightable elements that have been used by several artists in the past, including Mozart, Gilbert and Sullivan, and the Bee Gees, among others.

"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," Failla wrote, according to ABC Net. To hold otherwise, she said, would "completely foreclose the further development of music in that genre or for that purpose."

In the previous case against her, brought forth by Artikal Sound System, they contended that she plagiarized the chorus of their 2015 track Live Your Life. However, a judge ruled in 2023 that there was not enough evidence to back up the claims that Lipa and her co-writers had "access" to the track, which is an imperative prerequisite in any copyright lawsuit.

Nonetheless, the artist still faces legal woes over the track from musician Bosko Kante, who was featured on her 2020 song. The latter, who rendered his vocals through a talk box, sued the pop star back in 2023, contending that his offerings had been used on remixes of the song without his consent.

Per BBC, Kante is seeking restitution in the form of damages of at least $2 million plus interest, atop the profits from the remixes, which he claims should be around $20 million.


Dua Lipa is currently on the road for a tour in Australia in support of her album, Radical Optimism.

Edited by Ritika Pal
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