Donna Summer estate sues Kanye West for ‘stealing’ ‘I Feel Love’ sample
Lawsuit claims West sampled the hit 1970s song for a new track after permission was denied on moral grounds | Summer estate ‘wanted no association with West’s controversial history’.
Kanye West is facing a copyright lawsuit in California after allegedly “stealing” part of a Donna Summer song for a track on his new album Vultures 1.
The case raises issues of both infringement through music sampling, and withholding rights access on moral grounds.
Summer’s widower Bruce Sudano initiated the suit on Tuesday (February 27) in the Central District of California federal court on behalf of the estate of his late wife.
West (also known as ‘Ye’) and singer/songwriter Ty Dolla $ign (Tyrone Griffin) are accused of sampling Summer’s hit I Feel Love in their recently released song Good (Don’t Die), in what the estate said amounted to theft after they were refused permission to use it.
Objection on ‘moral grounds’
Summer’s estate “wanted no associated with West’s controversial history” and rejected his proposal to use the sample at the beginning of February this year (2024), according to the court document.
West was dropped by a number of commercial partners including Adidas following antisemitic remarks he made in 2022, which he apologised for in 2023.
He has sparked anger on other occasions, including wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase “White Lives Matter” to his Yeezy Paris Fashion Week show in 2022.
“Summer’s estate has been careful to protect the legacy and value of the song,
granting licensing rights only in appropriate circumstances, including the nature
and purpose of the use as well as the requesting party,” the lawsuit stated.
Commenting on the lawsuit, John Coldham, an IP partner at Gowling WLG, said it concerned two interesting issues.
“First, is taking a sample of a song sufficient to be copyright infringement?”, he said.
“This will depend on whether a substantial part of the original song has been taken and, if it is a really recognisable phrase of the original, for example, then that test is likely to be satisfied even if it is only a short part of the overall work.
“Secondly, can an artist prevent others from taking a well-known song that is associated with that artist because they do not want to be associated with the later artist?
“This concerns moral rights, where artists (not just [musicians]) do have the right to control the subsequent use of their works in certain circumstances.”
‘Unauthorised interpolation’
Summer, who passed away in 2012, has sold more than 100 million records worldwide and “pioneered a disco and dance music revolution in the mid 1970s”, according to the complaint.
The plaintiff alleged that West and other co-defendants recognised the significant value of her song I Feel Love, and requested permission to use it for their upcoming album Vultures 1, released on February 9 this year.
However, when this was denied, they “arrogantly and unilaterally decided they would simply steal” the music, and re-recorded memorable portions of the iconic song “almost verbatim”, it was alleged.
It was further claimed that they attempted to get around the rejection “by making an unauthorised interpolation”, and slightly altering the lyrics.
“Although defendants’ insubstantial changes certainly do not insulate them from
their wilful copyright infringement of I Feel Love, it is important that courts
protect artists against theft by even less obvious encroachments on their valuable
creative works,” the complaint stated.
Spotify and Apple have pulled West’s track Good, Don’t Diefollowing the infringement accusation, but according to the court filing the song had received more than 8 million streams in four days on Spotify, and more than 500,000 views on YouTube.
Donna Summer’s estate, Sweet Summer Night Music, owns one-third of the US copyright in the track, with Warner Music subsidiary Warner Chappellclaiming the remaining portion.
Attorneys for the plaintiff asked the California court for a judgment of wilful infringement, maximum damages equating to $150,000 per act of infringement, and costs.
Stanton Stein, Bennett Bigmanand Erica Kimof Russ, August & Kabatfiled the complaint on behalf of plaintiff Sweet Summer Night Music.
West and Griffin have not yet responded to requests for comments.
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories sent like this straight to your inbox
