Digital music news has reported a California federal court has denied a request by The Weeknd to reduce the scope of a copyright infringement lawsuit brought against him by three British songwriters who believe his song “A Lonely Night” plagiarizes theirs.
The suit was filed by Brian Clover, Scott McCulloch and Billy Smith, who claim The Weeknd copied their 2005 song “I Need To Love.”
The singer, whose real name is Abel M. Tesfaye, wanted to reduce the scope of the trio’s lawsuit by eliminating state law violations as well as secondary copyright infringement claims. But U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson denied this request, insisting that the plaintiffs had met what is known as the “plausibility standard” that has been adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The court concludes that the [complaint] alleges sufficient well-pleaded allegations to plausibly allege the secondary infringement and state law claims as alternatives to the unchallenged claim for direct copyright infringement.”