A federal US judge has ruled that a hit song by Colombian pop star Shakira ripped off a Dominican songwriter's work.
Shakira's Spanish-language 2010 single Loca has been found to infringe on the work of Dominican songwriter Ramon Arias Vasquez, in a ruling by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein at the Manhattan Federal Court, New York, on Aug 19.
The plagiarised track by Vasquez, entitled Loca con su Tiguere, had been written in the late 1990s. However, Hellerstein dismissed infringement claims that were also brought upon the English version of Shakira's track, citing a lack of evidence.
The ruling is a victory for the plaintiff, Mayimba Music, which holds the rights to Arias's work and which sued Sony Corp of America and several other Sony units in 2012. The judge found only two of them liable, Sony/ATV Latin and Sony/ATV Discos, for distributing Shakira's song.
Copycat: Pop star Shakira found guilty of plagiarising the work of Dominican songwriter Ramon Arias Vasquez. – Reuters
Hellerstein said Shakira's single was based on a 2007 song by Dominican rapper Eduard Edwin Bello Pou, better known as El Cata, which also copied Arias and was distributed by Sony. Shakira reached the top of the Latin Billboard charts with Loca, reportedly selling more than five million copies of the single worldwide.
The ruling said Arias's song, and the subsequent copies, revolve around a love triangle in which the singers are poor and the opposing suitors are rich, a theme expressed in Arias's title. Shakira's version uses the word "tigre" (tiger) instead of "tiguere," which is Dominican slang, but Hellerstein said the meaning was the same.
The next phase of the case will be to determine Mayimba's damages and a permanent injunction requested by the company against Sony. Check out the two songs below and see if you agree with the judge's ruling. Is Shakira a copycat? – Reuters
Source : http://www.thestar.com.my/Lifestyle/Entertainment/Music/News/2014/08/22/Waka-waka-Pop-star-Shakira-found-guilty-of-plagiarism
