In yet another case of alleged copyright infringement, three artists filed a claim on March 4, 2022 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against superstars Sam Smith and Normani for purportedly copying elements from the trio’s song “Dancing With a Stranger”. Songwriters Jordan Vincent, Christopher Miranda, and Rosco Banlaoi claim Smith and Normani’s 2019 multi-platinum hit of the same name is “nearly identical” and “strikingly similar” to a song they published on Vincent’s YouTube and Spotify channels in 2017. Along with sharing the same name, the plaintiffs allege that the chorus and composition of [...]

Dua Lipa was sued twice in the same week of March 2022 for her hit single, “Levitating”. The first suit was filed on March 1, 2022 by Florida reggae band Artikal Sound System in U.S. District Court in California. In the complaint, Artikal Sound claims that Lipa and her label Warner Records, Inc. stole the chorus from their little known 2017 song “Live Your Life.” The complaint is short on detail, asserting simply that “Levitating” is so similar to “Live Your Life” that it was “highly unlikely that ‘Levitating’ was created independently.” A copyright infringement action depends upon whether the [...]

Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren promised to be one of the premier pay-per-view boxing matches of 2021. Unfortunately for the millions who tuned in, the fight ended with a whimper when Askren was knocked out in the first round. And in even worse news for pay-per-view promoter Triller, many of those millions watched via free (and allegedly illegal) online streaming services. Triller promised vengeance, filing a claim in Federal District Court in California in April 2021 against FilmDaily.co and 10 other sites and services that allegedly pirated the fight. Triller brought causes of action for 1) willful copyright infringement for [...]

Nespresso has opened a new front in the coffee pod Intellectual Property (IP) wars. Coffee pods have become ubiquitous and their manufacturers have been attempting for years to defend intellectual property rights they claim to have in pod design and function. In April 2021, Nespresso was sued by German coffee giant Kruger in Federal District Court in Los Angeles for allegedly infringing three patents related to its coffee pod extraction technology. That case continues. In September 2021, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court ruled against Nespresso’s attempt to garner trademark protection for its coffee pod design, finding that its pods had [...]