3 Count: Levitating Lawsuit

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1: Dua Lipa Sued for Alleged Copyright Infringement Over Hit Single Levitating

First off today, Murray Stassen at Music Business Worldwide reports that musician Dua Lipa has been hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit that claims her 2020 hit Levitating is an infringement of an earlier song.

The lawsuit was filed by Artikal Sound System, a band behind the 2017 song Live Your Life. The band claims that Levitating is “substantially similar” to their work. According to the lawsuit, the album that Live Your LIfe was on reached the number 2 spot for reggae in 2017, meaning that it’s very easy for Dua Lipa to have heard it.

In addition to Dua Lipa, the lawsuit targets Warner Records as well as others involved in the song. The lawsuit demands an award of profits and actual damages.

2: Motivational Speaker Loses Copyright Lawsuit Against High School

Next up today, Eugene Volokh at Reason reports that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court decision in a lawsuit between an author and a high school he sued for copyright infringement.

The lawsuit was filed by author and motivational speaker Keith Bell, who accused a Texas high school of copyright infringement for tweeting out a motivational passage from his book Winning Isn’t Normal. However, the lower court tossed the lawsuit, saying that the use was a fair use, and awarded the school some $10,266.37 in fees.

Bell appealed the ruling, and now the Fifth Circuit has upheld both the dismissal and the awarding of fees. The decision was heavily swayed by the fact that Bell is a “serial litigant” that has filed dozens of similar lawsuits over the course of a decade.

3: Oracle, NEC Resolve Contract, Copyright Dispute Over Database Software

Finally today, Blake Brittain at Reuters reports that Oracle and NEC have reached a settlement in their dispute over NEC’s use of Oracle’s database software.

Oracle sued NEC last year, claiming that NEC used Oracle software in a way that exceeded their license. NEC, for their part, claimed that Oracle’s practices were predatory and relied on giving users restrictive licenses knowing that they would have to exceed them for their intended purpose. However, NEC’s allegations of fraud were dismissed after it failed to show evidence of false statements.

In the end, the two sides have agreed to a settlement to bring an end to the lawsuit. No details have been released about the terms of the settlement.

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