Adidas recently announced they were suing Kanye West for $250million due to disagreements between the two parties as to who owns the intellectual property of the rapper’s Yeezy sneaker model. However, the Chicago producer is now embroiled in another legal case.
It has been confirmed that the estate of the late vocalist Donna Summer will be taking Ye to court after using an uncleared sample of the 1977 dance track ‘I Feel Love’ on his latest album, Vultures 1.
Earlier this year, Donna Summer’s estate declined approval for a sample on Kanye West’s project following Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne’s highlighting Ye’s use of uncleared Black Sabbath samples.
Donner Summer’s estate admits West’s team had approached them before the album’s release, but they declined, insisting they did not want to be attached to a musician with a negative reputation and record of brazen antisemitism.
Although Kanye did not directly sample the track, he did interpolate the song for the beat of ‘GOOD (DON’T DIE)’ and although they are not sure of the technicalities surrounding the interpolation, Donna Summer’s estate is now seeking an injunction to prevent further distribution.
As well as the prevention of further distribution, they are also looking to receive compensatory damages as the millions of streams the song has already received have generated money for West.
Summer’s estate has already successfully removed the track from some streaming services. However, it is still widely available on the internet for consumption. Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne have also threatened legal action against West over his unauthorized use of Ozzy’s 1971 song ‘Iron Man’.
In a recent interview, the Black Sabbath frontman elaborated on his feelings about West, saying, “It’s wrong if you don’t say anything about him. I don’t want any of my work in any shape or form to be associated with anything like that.”