A new lawsuit alleges that Pitbull’s 2021 dance hit “I Feel Good” was copied from an earlier track created more than 15 years ago.
In a case filed Thursday in federal court in Manhattan, a company called All Surface Publishing claimed that Pitbull’s song – which spent 27 weeks on the Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart – infringed the copyright of a 2006 song called “Samir’s Theme” because it had “significant similarities.”
“The copyright infringement involves an exact copy of a recognizable portion of the plaintiff’s copied musical work,” the lawsuit states.
The plaintiffs claim that the two songs share similarities in melody, harmony, melodic structure, tempo, musical arrangement and percussion – including a “three-note introductory phrase” in which the notes descend down the scale.
“Listened in real time, the descending lines of both songs appear to be nearly identical,” the plaintiffs claim.
In the case, Pitbull is not personally named as a defendant, but his record label Mr. 305 Inc. and DJ White Shadow (Paul Edward Blair), who produced the song and was also featured as an artist on it, are accused.
A key component of most copyright lawsuits is proving that the accused infringer had sufficient “access” to the original to be able to copy it. In the case of “I Feel Good,” the lawsuit alleges that All Surface owner Aaron LaCanfora sent “Samir’s Theme” directly to DJ White Shadow in 2011.
“I love this song,” the DJ is said to have replied, according to the lawsuit.
Representatives for Mr. 305 and DJ White Shadow did not respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit also names Universal Music Group as a defendant and claims that Mr. 305 Inc. is a “wholly owned subsidiary of UMG,” although it’s not clear if that’s true. Mr. 305 signed a distribution deal with Ingrooves in 2019, shortly after that company was acquired by UMG, but Pitbull’s company describes itself as an “independent record label” owned by the star himself.
A representative for UMG did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
