The Weeknd and fellow Canadian Frank Dukes are close to settling a copyright infringement lawsuit filed two years ago by a pair of songwriters.
Suniel Fox and Henry Strange – who make up music act Epikker – claimed in 2021 that “Call Out My Name” from The Weeknd’s 2018 EP My Dear Melancholy copies their track “Vibeking,” which was created in 2015.
The duo alleged the songs have the same time signature, similar tempos and almost identical melodies. Their lawsuit claimed they sent “Vibeking” to one of the The Weeknd’s engineers, who told them the Canadian singer had listened to it.
When “Call Out My Name” was released, it was credited to The Weeknd, Dukes (aka Adam Feeney) and Nicolás Jaar.
Fox and Strange said in a March 17th court filing that they have reached “a settlement in principle” that the two sides were “in the process of formalizing, executing and consummating.”
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. The Weeknd had previously denied the allegations in the lawsuit, which was scheduled to go to trial soon.
The Weeknd has faced accusations of copyright infringement before – over “The Hills” in 2015, “Pray for Me” in 2017 and “A Lonely Night” in 2018. Last year, the 2017 lawsuit was withdrawn by the plaintiffs and the 2018 case was dismissed.