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Dua Lipa is Levitating as Judge Dismisses Copyright Lawsuit Against Singer's Chart Topper
A judge recently dismissed a copyright lawsuit filed against Dua Lipa for the track Levitating. The case was filed by two plaintiffs.
A judge recently dismissed the copyright lawsuit filed against Dua Lipa over her 2020 hit track Levitating. In March 2022, the singer was hit with two copyright lawsuits, the first of which came from the Florida reggae group Artikal Sound System. However, those claims were dismissed in June 2023.
Another copyright lawsuit, filed by L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer in 2022, was the one dismissed by Judge Katherine Polk Failla on March 27, 2025. The New York court judge explained that the similarities between the songs were not protected under copyright law.
According to a report, Brown and Linzer accused Lipa of copying their two tracks — the 1979 song Wiggle and Giggle All Night and the 1980 song Don Diablo. For those unfamiliar, these songs originated during the disco era.
The plaintiffs claimed that the opening melody of Levitating copied the melody of their songs. Brown and Linzer also alleged that Dua Lipa had admitted to deliberately emulating “prior eras,” drawing inspiration to create a retro sound.
However, the judge concluded in the ruling that the copyright infringement claim failed, as it related to a descending scale common to all three songs — and Levitating included an additional note.
The judge also cited the Structured Asset Sales, LLC v. Ed Sheeran case — a copyright suit that Sheeran won in 2023 over claims that he copied Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On.
Judge Katherine Polk Failla stated that “a chord progression and harmonic rhythm, in combination, could not constitute protectable expression under copyright law.”
The ruling further noted that, although a layperson might hear musical similarities between the two songs, “there can be no substantial similarity (and thus no copyright violation) as a matter of law, because the similarity between [the] works concerns only non-copyrightable elements of the [P]laintiff[s’] work.”
Meanwhile, Dua Lipa is still facing another copyright lawsuit related to the same track, this time from producer Bosko Kante, who filed the suit in 2023.
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