After a federal judge ruled in Dua Lipa‘s favor in a lawsuit over her hit “Levitating,” another judge has ruled that she’ll have to face another lawsuit over the song.
In June, a judge ruled that Dua did not rip off “Levitating” from a 2017 song called “Live Your Life” by the reggae band Artikal Sound System. Now, Sky News reports that U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla has ruled that two songwriters who claim “Levitating” was ripped off from their song can proceed with their case.
Back in March, L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer claimed that “Levitating” shared “compositional elements” with their song, “Wiggle and a Giggle All Night.” Dua’s lawyers argued that it was hard to believe that Dua had heard that song — which came out in 1979 — before she wrote “Levitating.”
While the judge agreed it was implausible, she ruled that the songwriters had “just enough facts” to argue that there were similarities between the two songs, including their rhythm and melody.
Therefore, Failla wrote, “The court cannot foreclose the possibility of plaintiffs meeting the undoubtedly high bar of proving striking similarity.”
A third lawsuit regarding “Levitating” was filed on July 31 of this year, claiming that remixes of the song included “talk box” recordings by the musician Bosko Kante without his permission. Dua’s legal team hasn’t responded to that one yet.
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