Yellowcard is moving ahead with their lawsuit against late SoundCloud rap trailblazer Juice WRLD.
The band filed the suit back in October, claiming that the rapper’s breakthrough single ‘Lucid Dreams’ illegally sampled elements from their 2006 song ‘Holly Wood Died’. However, they put the suit on hold following Juice WRLD’s tragic passing on December 8th. Yellowcard is seeking $15 million in damages and and “running royalty and/or ownership share”.
The band have enlisted representation by Richard Busch, who previously won the ‘Blurred Lines’ lawsuit against Robin Thicke and Pharrell on behalf of the Marvin Gaye estate back in 2015.
The band have extended the time that the Juice WRLD and co-defendants have to respond until February 4th, 2020. When the original motion was filed, Juice WRLD had until December 9th to file a response.
Watch: Juice WRLD – ‘Lucid Dreams’
The original complaint saw Yellowcard highlight that the “melodic elements” between ‘Holly Wood Died’ and ‘Lucid Dreams’ were “virtually identical.”
“Defendants copied the Original Work without license or consent, and have exploited the subsequent Infringing Work and Infringing Sound Recording to their collective benefit without regard to Plaintiffs’ rights and to Plaintiffs’ detriment,” the complaint outlined. “The Infringing Work and Infringing Sound Recording are not only substantially similar to the Original Work, but in some places virtually identical.”
The complaint also featured a chart that analysed the compositional similarities between the two songs. Noting shared elements including hooks, vocal melodies and “melodic idiosyncrasy”
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“The high degree of objective similarity between the Original Work and the Infringing Work extends well beyond the possibility of coincidence and could only reasonably be the result of an act of copying.”
To establish access, the lawsuit highlighted an interview with Juice WRLD — in which the late rapper shared his admiration for Fall Out Boy’s landmark 2005 record, From Under The Cork Tree. A record that was produced by Neal Avron, who worked on ‘Holly Wood Died’.
Juice WRLD passed away on December 8th after suffering a seizure at Midway Airport. He was 21. A report by TMZ states that the musician took “several unknown pills” before suffering the seizure.
Watch: Yellowcard – ‘Holly Wood Died’
