Canadian singer/songwriter Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, popularly known as The Weeknd, has been hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit over his hit single The Hills. According to a film financier based in the United Kingdom, The Weeknd and his producer illicitly sampled the score from the 2013 sci-fi film, The Machine.
The plaintiff identifies itself as a company that finances films and acquires interest in film score compositions and sound recordings. The Machine, about cyborgs created in a war against China, was one of the films, released in 2013 and had a score by Tom Raybould.
The key evidence in the complaint cited by the film financier , Cutting Edge Music in its lawsuit is an alleged message sent through Twitter by co-defendant Emmanuel “Mano” Nickerson, a prominent music producer who worked on “The Hills.”
According to the complaint “On or about March 9, 2015, Defendant MANO sent Raybould a Twitter direct message stating ‘I sampled your music might make it 2 the Weeknd’s next album. Huge fan of what u did 4 the machine movie!’ ”
“The Hills” was released in May as the second single from The Weeknd’s album, “Beauty Behind the Madness.” It’s topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for several weeks and has even been remixed by Eminem, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne.
The complaint states that “Both the Infringing Song and the Track featuring synthesizer bass-lines performed with almost identical idiosyncratic sounds at the same register and using the same pitch sequence, melodic phase structure and rhythmic durations.”
The plaintiff is claiming copyright infringement as well as unjust enrichment and is demanding damages as well as a permanent injunction.
Cutting Edge Music Limited is suing The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye), his producers and music giants Universal, Warner Chappell, Sony/ATV and others.
The Weeknd, who has been nominated in seven categories for the 2016 Grammy awards, is yet to make a statement on the suit.
Source: SpinCitys
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