Dua Lipa wins dismissal of hit song copyright court case with an Ed Sheeran assist

Dua Lipa will be celebrating more than sold-out shows in Sydney this weekend with a judge dismissing a lawsuit against her smash hit Levitating.

A court victory in the US has given Dua Lipa another reason to celebrate on her sold-out Australian tour.

And she can thank Ed Sheeran for a legal assist cited by the New York judge when dismissing the “Levitating” copyright lawsuit.

Dua Lipa had been accused of copying a 1979 disco song for her 2021 hit Levitating, one of the highlights of her all-killer, no-filler Radical Optimism tour in Australia which wraps up on Saturday in Sydney.

L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer alleged Lipa’s smash, which has more than two billions streams on Spotify alone, shared its “signature melody” with their song Wiggle and Giggle All Night and another track Don Diablo.

Dua Lipa gets on with the show after beating copyright lawsuit. Picture: Picture: Naomi Rahim/Getty Images.

But US District Judge Katherine Polk Failla said the plaintiffs failed to show “substantial similarity” between the two songs despite some listeners hearing some likeness.

The judge cited the Structured Asset Sales, LLC v. Ed Sheeran case — a copyright lawsuit that the “Thinking Out Loud” songwriter won in 2023 over claims he copied Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On”, as a precedent.

Failla stated, “a chord progression and harmonic rhythm, in combination, could not constitute protectable expression under copyright law.”

The judge cited an Ed Sheeran copyright case in her dismissal of the Dua Lipa lawsuit. Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

According to Reuters, Failla also found there were other examples of the claimed similarities between Levitating and Wiggle and had appeared in Mozart and Rossini operas, Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, and Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees.

Lipa noted the victory on her Instagram stories with a simple headline “Dua Lipa wins ‘Levitating’ court case.”

Lawyers for the plaintiffs plan to appeal the judge’s dismissal of the lawsuit.

Lipa enlisted Aussie pop prince Troye Sivan for her Physical remix. Picture: Naomi Rahim/Getty Images.

The court win comes as the Houdini chart-slayer revealed a new collaboration with Troye Sivan, who was the surprise special guest at one of her Melbourne concerts last weekend where they performed his hit Rush.

Dua Lipa gifted a USB drive of the Physical remix featuring Sivan to a fan at her Rod Laver Arena show last Saturday night, telling the excited concertgoer to “leak it.”

The Physical remix dropped in support of the “celebration” of the reissue of her Future Nostalgia album, originally released on March 27, 2020.

Record labels are now cashing in on the “fifth anniversary” of records, instead of waiting until they turn 10, using the occasion to reissue new editions with Future Nostalgia now available as a refreshed 3LP set.

Niall Horan’s album Heartbreak Weather gets the fifth anniversary reissue treatment with double-disc vinyl and CD versions in August.

Originally published as Dua Lipa wins dismissal of hit song copyright court case with an Ed Sheeran assist