Sam Smith and Normani again call for dismissal of Dancing With A Stranger song-theft lawsuit

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By Chris Cooke | Posted on Thursday 8 September 2022

Authorized reps for Sam Smith and Normani have once more named for a track theft lawsuit in relation to their music ‘Dancing With A Stranger’ to be dismissed. An amended edition of that lawsuit, they argue, does not tackle the challenges they earlier raised about the song-theft claim.

Smith and Normani – and different other parties connected to their hit – were sued before this year by artist Jordan Vincent and producer Christopher Miranda who assert that ‘Dancing With A Stranger’ rips off their 2015 track ‘Dancing With Strangers’.

On top of getting just about the similar title and a incredibly related accompanying promo video to the before tune, Smith and Normani’s ‘Dancing With A Stranger’ – it was alleged – has the identical “hook, refrain, lyrics, and musical composition” as ‘Dancing With Strangers’.

“It is further than any actual doubt that Smith, Normani and the other defendants copied plaintiff’s work”, the lawsuit then claimed. “The secured expression in the two the infringing music and plaintiff’s pre-current work is just about equivalent and is strikingly similar”.

The Smith and Normani aspect had been pretty scathing about the litigation when filing a motion to dismiss in July. The lawsuit was “rambling” and “repetitive”, they explained, as well as the plaintiff’s very own skilled report demonstrated why no copyright infringement had transpired.

“Even as transcribed by plaintiff’s skilled, only the initially and sixth notes are the same”, the motion to dismiss stated. “Given that an uninterrupted sequence of 4 notes is not safeguarded by copyright, two non-contiguous notes are unable to be protected”.

Vincent and Miranda filed an amended lawsuit in August, which the Smith/Normani facet have now responded to. In accordance to Rolling Stone, they argue that Vincent and Miranda’s amended authorized filing does not thoroughly deal with the issues they lifted in the July motion to dismiss.

And the revised lawsuit is also “self-contradictory” and “nonsensical”. Among other matters, the Smith/Normani crew take difficulty with the simple fact defendants are accused of both direct infringement and contributory infringement. But you can only be liable for one particular of people – possibly you directly infringe somebody else’s operate, or you facilitate a different party who immediately infringes.

Not only that, but “plaintiff’s 1st amended grievance proceeds, relatively than cures, plaintiff’s failure to offer each individual defendant with reasonable see of whose infringement he, she, or it supposedly understood about and how he, she, or it materially contributed to or induced it”.

We now await to see if the decide will allow this newest song theft dispute to continue.