In a recent update in the world of entertainment law, a judge has dismissed a copyright lawsuit against Houston rapper Megan Thee Stallion regarding her hit song "Savage." U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla ruled that the plaintiff, producer James Greene, failed to prove that the defendants had access to his work and that the two pieces of music were substantially similar. The Houston Chronicle reported that the Pryor Cashman LLP law firm, representing Megan Thee Stallion, announced the motion of dismissal was granted by Failla.
Greene had accused Megan Thee Stallion and others of "beat jacking," claiming that the defendants reproduced music from his 1999 instrumental track "It's About to Be On" without permission. Representing himself in court, he highlighted alleged similarities comprising piano sequences, drum patterns, and siren sounds between his track and "Savage." However, distributing the song to others in the music industry in the early 2000s, Greene could not provide sufficient evidence to the court of direct or circumstantial evidence to support a finding that the defendants had reasonable access to his work, according to Billboard.
Judge Failla's ruling noted the qualitative differences between the two tracks, emphasizing that "Savage" featured lyrics and a more upbeat tempo as compared to Greene's instrumental. According to Failla's statements obtained by Billboard, the judge further commented on the uniqueness of the sound elements used in Megan's work, contrasting them with those claimed by Greene to be similar. The siren sound in Greene's instrumental was described as an atonal chord created using a synthesizer, which was distinct from the "alleged siren sound" in "Savage," which in fact was not a siren at all, but rather is a distorted vocal sample.
The dismissal comes as Megan Thee Stallion is making waves with her third studio album, "Megan," featuring 18 tracks with guest appearances from artists including Bun B and the late Pimp C. Recently, as she sold out the Toyota Center in her city, she proved her star power is undiminished despite the legal challenges. In their statement, Ilene Susan Farkas of Pryor Cashman LLP told Law 360, "The decision fully vindicates our clients and serves as further support for the early dismissal of baseless infringement claims." Megan Thee Stallion, having performed in Houston during her summer tour, did not immediately reply to requests for comment on the lawsuit's dismissal.
