Justin Timberlake and Will.I.Am have been accused of copyright infringement in a new lawsuit filed Wednesday by music publishing company PK Music Performance. The claim was filed at the U.S. District Court of New York and suggests that the duo’s hit song “Damn Girl” wrongly copies Perry Kibble’s “A New Day Is Here At Last.”
“A substantial amount of the music in ‘Damn Girl’ is copied from ‘A New Day Is Here At Last,’” stated the suit. “Specifically, a substantial part of the drum, conga drum, organ, bass guitar, electric quitter and saxophone parts in “Damn Girl,” were all copied from ‘A New Day Is Here At Last.’”
Rights to “A New Day Is Here At Last” were given to Kibble’s sister, Janis McQuinton, after his death in 1999. McQuinton is the principal of PK Music Performance.
“The portions of ‘A New Day Is Here At Last’ copied in ‘Damn Girl’ are not only quantitatively substantial, but qualitatively important to ‘A New Day Is Here At Last,’ including the introduction, rhythm, harmony, melody, and ‘hook,’ all of which are copyrightable elements individually and in combination,” according to court documents.
“Damn Girl” was featured on Timberlake’s album, “Futurezex/Lovesounds.”
“A New Day is Here At Last” was written by Kibble and it was most famously performed by J.D. Davis, who released a recording of it in 1969, according to the complaint.
Listen to the song below:
