Legal Action Taken Against Dua Lipa Over ‘Levitating’ Alleged Copyright Infringement


“Levitating” by Dua Lipa is being sued for copyright infringement.

A federal judge has decided that Dua Lipa must face a lawsuit that says she copied a 1979 disco song for her 2021 hit song “Levitating.”

The lawsuit was brought by L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer, who wrote the song Wiggle and Giggle All Night. They say that Levitating has “compositional elements” in common with their song. The people suing say that the two songs’ melodies, rhythms, and structures are very similar.

US District Judge Katherine Polk Failla said in a ruling on Tuesday that the plaintiffs had presented “just enough facts” to support their claim of copyright violation. Failla said that the court could not “foreclose the possibility of plaintiffs meeting the undoubtedly high bar of proving striking similarity.”

Lawyers for Lipa and Warner Records, where she is signed, have not yet said anything about the decision.

It’s not the first time Lipa has been accused of stealing someone else’s work. Reggae band Artikal Sound System sued her in 2022, saying that her song Levitating was a copy of their song Live Your Life. In June 2022, the judge threw out that case.

The lawsuit against Lipa is the latest in a long line of cases where famous songs were used without permission. Ed Sheeran, Katy Perry, and Robin Thicke have been sued over claims that their songs copied other songs in the past few years.

In this case, it remains to be seen if Lipa will be found guilty of stealing someone else’s work. But because of Judge Failla’s decision, she will have to go to court to defend herself against the accusations.