In 2019, Sam Smith was dating Dancing with a Stranger, a duet with Normani, former singer of the girl band Fifth Harmony. If the public reacted well, the authors Jordan Vincent, Christopher Miranda, and Rosco Banlaoi, a little less. Indeed, the trio, which operates under the name of Sound and Color, LLC, had released a song of the same title, four years earlier. And the similarity, they say, does not end there.
They therefore filed a complaint in March, denouncing plagiarism, to which the lawyers of Sam Smith and Normani responded officially. As relayed Rolling Stonethey asked the court to drop several claims by the plaintiffs, in particular on the damages claimed, in the event that their clients were found guilty.
Le cas « Stairway to Heaven »
To prove the good faith of Sam Smith and Normani, their legal representatives also rely on the report of a musicologist, who considered that the two songs “are different”, even if there are “similarities in the melodic contour and rhythm”. “A melodic outline, or the turn of a melody, is too abstract to be protected by copyright,” they add.
The plaintiffs are represented by the firm Francis Alexander, which had unsuccessfully attacked Led Zeppelin for plagiarism for their cult song, Stairway to Heavenas noted Billboard in March. Lawyers for Sam Smith and Normani are confident this lawsuit will end up like the one filed against the late 60s band.
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