A decade after it was released, Justin Timberlake and will.i.am are being sued for copywright infringement thanks to “Damn Girl” from Timberlake’s 2006 album Futuresex/Lovesounds.
PK Music Performance filed the lawsuit, claiming that the song’s backing groove is way too similar to J.C. Davis’ 1969 hit “A New Day Is Here At Last,” written by Perry Kibble. According to People, Kibble’s sister Janis McQuinton took over the rights to the song in 1999, when Kibble died. She handed over the rights to the company, which she is also involved in, in December. PK Music then renewed the copyright for the song last month.
“A substantial amount of the music in ‘Damn Girl’ is copied from ‘A New Day Is Here At Last,’” the lawsuit reads, reports TheWrap. “Specifically, a substantial part of the drum, conga drum, organ, bass guitar, electric quitter and saxophone parts in “Damn Girl,” were all copied from ‘A New Day Is Here At Last.'”
PK Music, which filed the lawsuit in New York, wants Timberlake and will.i.am (real name Will Adams) to stop performing “Damn Girl,” wants a cut of profits from the song and even wants copies of the song destroyed.
Here’s “A New Day”:
And “Damn Girl”: