The Weeknd has reached a settlement in the lawsuit filed by the production duo of Suniel Fox and Henry Strange over copyright infringement claims involving “Call Out My Name.”
Attorneys for Fox and Strange — known collectively as as Epikker — revealed on March 17 that the two sides have reached an agreement, resulting in the suit being dropped. However, the terms of the settlement have not yet been disclosed.
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“Because the parties are still in the process of formalizing, executing, and consummating that settlement, Plaintiff respectfully requests that the Court take all dates off calendar and set a date in 30 days for the parties to file a joint status report if the case has not already been dismissed,” the filing reads, per Rolling Stone.
Epikker originally filed the lawsuit against The Weeknd in September 2021, and also named producers Frank Dukes and Nicolas Jaar as defendants.
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Fox an Strange claimed that the 2018 My Dear Melancholy anthem ripped off their 2015 song “Vibeking.” More specifically, Epikker believed elements of their hook and guitar had been plagiarized.
“Both works are in a minor key,” the original suit argued. “Both works are in a 6/8 meter that is less common in popular music. Both works are played at a similar tempo. And both works use features of electronica, ambience, pop, Hip Hop, rock and R&B to achieve a particular atmospheric and melancholic sound.”
Epikker claim to have evidence of them emailing “Vibeking” to The Weeknd’s DJ and playback engineer, PNDA, according to Law360. They say PNDA told them The Weeknd said it was “fire,” but the DJ also suggested he wasn’t going to credit them for their work.
“Just gonna tell [The Weeknd] that our production team wrote the track. Cool?” PNDA allegedly wrote. “Or u have another idea? Just don’t wanna say, ‘Hey, [Strange] wrote this,’ when he doesn’t know u.”
Strange claims he responded: “[The Weeknd] knows me. Say both. [Strange] with Ponytail you met on Drake tour. Who is part of our production team.”
“Call Out My Name” peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the official music video boasts over 850 million views. The track is certified 3x-platinum by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America).
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The My Dear Melancholy EP, meanwhile, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in April 2018 with roughly 169,000 total album-equivalent units in its first week.
