New York judge rules song broke copyright law!
Shakira‘s hips don’t lie, but her song writer sure did! A federal judge is pretty sure her hit song “Loca” contains lyrics illegally ripped off from another musician.
New York’s U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled that Shakira’s Spanish language hit “Loca” broke copyright laws.
“Substantial Copying Of Other Artist’s Lyrics”–
Judge Alvin Hellerstein
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Federal found that the 2010 song infringed upon a song written by Dominican singer Ramos Arias Vazquez. He wrote the song “Loca con su Tiguera” in the mid-1990s.
The Spanish-language version — a collaboration between Shakira and Dominican rapper, Eduardo Edwin Bello Pou, better know as El Cata — sold more than five million copies and topped Billboard’s Latin charts when it was released as a single back in 2010.
Vazquez alleged that El Cataheard the song “Loca con su Tiguera” and asked him to record the tune. Bello denied this exchange, and claimed that he wrote the song based upon his relationship with his ex-wife.
In the ruling, Judge Hellerstein said that the single was based upon an early recording by El Cata, that, in turn, was copied from Vazquez’s original song.
“There is no dispute that Shakira’s version of the song was based on Bello’s version,” the judge wrote in his ruling. “Accordingly, I find that, since Bello had copied Arias, whoever wrote Shakira’s version of the song also indirectly copied Arias.”
Damages have not yet been determined for the plaintiff, Mayimba Music, which holds the rights to Arias’ work. But regardless, Shakira’s label, SonyATV Latin and Sony/ATV Discos, which distributed Shakira’s Spanish version of the song, will be forced to pay damages once those damages have been valued in a later trial.
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