Donna Summer’s estate has filed a lawsuit against Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign for unauthorized interpolation of one of her songs.
According to documents obtained by PEOPLE, the estate of the late pop icon filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in federal court in California on Tuesday against the two rappers, alleging that Summer’s “I Feel Love” was used without permission in their song “Good (Don’ t Die)” discount on their collaboration project as ¥$, Vultures 1.
The Queen of Disco’s husband, Bruce Sudano, is named as the lead plaintiff in the suit, according to the filing. It names both West, 46, now professionally known as Ye, and Ty Dolla $ign, 41, whose real name is Tyrone William Griffin, Jr.
Summer’s estate says in the filing that permission was “expressly denied” to use the singer’s 1977 song. “Despite this denial, the defendants shamelessly used instantly recognizable parts of Summer’s hit song,” the documents state.
Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign.
Gotham/GC Pictures; John Salangsang/Variety via Getty
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The filing alleges that the musicians “arrogantly and unilaterally decided they were just going to steal” the song when their request was denied by the estate because they “want nothing to do with West’s controversial history.”
PEOPLE has reached out to reps for the Summer estate and West and Ty Dolla $ign. Summer’s estate had no comment, and representatives for West and Ty Dolla $ign had not received a response by the time of publication.
The prosecutor claims in the documents that an entity known as “Alien Music” requested the use of excerpts from “I Feel Love” on West’s behalf in late January. According to the filing, Alien Music requested an “expedited review” because the final track was scheduled for release on February 9, which appeared to indicate that the rappers had “already completed and prepared their track for release without obtaining permission or even notifying Summer’s Estate of their use .”
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Donna Summer.
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By Feb. 3, the request had been rejected in writing and by phone twice, according to the documents, and another attempt to use it was also made to Universal Music Enterprises, which was also rejected.
According to the filing, the estate is seeking $150,000 for each act of infringement.
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Attorneys for the property argue in the lawsuit that this is more than “the mere failure of the defendants to pay the appropriate licensing fee.” They say it’s also about artists’ rights to have their work represented and prevented from being stolen, as well as “protecting Donna Summer’s own musical legacy and one of popular music’s most influential and revolutionary songs.”
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“Good (Don’t Die)” has a noticeable interpolation of disco classics, with a female voice singing altered lyrics to its melody.
The song was dropped on February 10 following the release of Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s album Vultures 1their first joint album as a joint project ¥$.
On the day the record was released, Sudano, 75, posted on X (formerly Twitter) about the appearance of “I Feel Love” on one of the tracks. He wrote in the post, “@kanyewest asked for permission to use I Feel Love by Donna Summer, got denied… he changed the words, had someone sing it, or used AI but it’s I Feel Love… copyright infringement! !!”
Summer died in 2012 at the age of 63 from lung cancer.
Vultures 1which was first announced in late 2023, has been officially released after multiple delays and pushbacks to the release date.
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Source: HIS Education