Kayne West and Donna Summer estate settle copyright infringement lawsuit
Larry Stein, lead counsel for Summer’s estate, said in a statement that the agreement “did not include permission for Ye to use Summer’s material in the future.”
Kanye “Ye” West settled a copyright infringement lawsuit with Donna Summer’s estate after legal paperwork was filed against him and Ty Dolla $ign over the use of Summer’s song “I Feel Love.”
Summer’s estate filed the lawsuit earlier this year over “unauthorized interpolation” of the song on West and Ty’s “Vultures 1 project,” according to People. Court documents filed on Thursday, June 20, state that both parties “entered into a settlement agreement that is a full and final settlement of all of the claims in the action,” People reported.
Both parties will reportedly handle their own legal expenses. Larry Stein, lead counsel for Summer’s estate, told Billboard in a statement that the agreement “did not include permission for Ye to use Summer’s material in the future.”
“We did not license the song,” said Stein. “As part of the settlement, they have agreed not to distribute or otherwise use the song. So we got what we wanted.”
Stein “declined to comment on any other terms of the agreement, including whether Ye had paid a monetary settlement to account for infringement that already happened,” Billboard reported.
According to the court documents filed in February, Ye and Ty Dolla $ign were accused of “blatant theft” for including an “interpolation” of “I Feel Love” on their song, “Good (Don’t Die),” “without permission,” People reported. Summer’s husband, Bruce Sudano, was the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Sudano took to X (Twitter) to express his disappointment about the inclusion of Summer’s song after the release of “Vultures 1.”
“@kanyewest asked permission to use Donna Summer’s song I Feel Love, he was denied… he changed the words, had someone re sing it or used AI but it’s I Feel Love… copyright infringement!!!” Sudano wrote at the time, per People.
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The lawsuit stated that West was “explicitly denied” permission to use the 1977 track because Summer’s estate “wanted no association with West’s controversial history.”
“Despite this denial, Defendants shamelessly used instantly recognizable portions of Summer’s hit song, ‘I FEEL LOVE,’ on their recently released collaborative album, ‘Vultures 1,’ and in recorded live concerts,” the lawsuit stated.
“In the face of these repeated denials, West and Co-Defendants attempted to get around this roadblock by instead making an unauthorized interpolation,” the filing claimed. Summer’s estate alleged that Ye and Ty Dolla $ign used the “iconic melody” from “I Feel Love” as the hook for their song and “re-recorded almost verbatim” several parts of Summer’s song illegally.
