Kanye West sued by Donna Summer’s estate for ‘stealing’ track ‘I Feel Love’

nypost.com:

last dance.Kanye West was sued by the estate of the late singer Donna Summer after the rapper used a sample of the late Queen of Disco’s 1977 hit “I Feel Love” without permission.

According to court documents obtained by The Post, West, 46, approached the Summer estate and requested to use the sample for his track “Good (Don’t Die)” but was denied.

A representative for West was told they were denied because there was a danger of “potential degradation to Summer’s legacy” as “West is known as a controversial public figure whose conduct has led numerous brands and business partners to disassociate from him.”The estate says that despite permission being “explicitly denied,” West and his collaborator Ty Dolla $ign went ahead and used the track anyway. “In the face of this rejection, Defendants arrogantly and unilaterally decided they would simply steal ‘I Feel Love’ and use it without permission,” the 16-page document states. “In their song ‘Good (Don’t Die)’ Defendants re-recorded almost verbatim the key, memorable portions of Summer’s iconic song, used it as the hook for their own song and released it to the public knowing they had tried and failed to secure legal permission from its rightful owners and had no legal right to do so.”The document also states that West’s song, which was released as a part of his highly anticipated “Vultures 1” album, was “instantly recognized” as a “blatant rip-off” of Summer’s tune.Since the lawsuit, several music streamers “took down the infringing song in acknowledgment of Plaintiff’s intellectual property rights” but have otherwise left the rest of the album untouched.