Kanye West faces copyright infringement lawsuit for the unauthorised use of a sample on his most recent album, ‘Donda 2’

Kanye West is being sued for yet another copyright infringement for the unauthorized use of a sample on his most recent album, “Donda 2.”

According to a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, West’s song “Flowers” improperly samples the 1986 club smash “Move Your Body” (also known as “The House Music Anthem”). According to the lawsuit, the Marshall Jefferson audio is repeated “at least 22 times throughout” the song.

“West advocates for artists’ rights with one hand while taking away rights from another artist with the other,” the filing continues.

It also describes the sample as “willful and deliberate,” claiming West’s representatives met with Jefferson’s publisher, Ultra International Music Publishing, and admitted sampling the song without prior permission.

“Defendants know and have been informed that they do not possess a license to utilise the Composition in the Unauthorised Work, and yet continue to willfully infringe in blatant disregard of UIMP’s rights of ownership,” the suit says.

Alex Klein, a co-creator of the Stem Player music player on which West released Donda 2, as well as ten other unnamed individuals referred to only as “Does 1-10,” are also named in the case. According to Billboard, West previously claimed to have sold 11,000 Stem Players for $200 each, bringing in an estimated $2.2 million.

This is West’s second lawsuit for allegedly using unlicensed samples on “Donda 2.” Bishop David P. Moten sued Kanye West in May, alleging that a significant portion of the song “Come to Life” was lifted from a lecture he gave at a Victoria, Texas, church in 2011. It is not yet clear how the litigation will be resolved.

Ronald Oslin Bobb-Semple filed a lawsuit against West and his collaborators in 2019 after discovering that his voice had been illegally sampled on the Kids See Ghosts single “Freeee (Ghost Town Pt. 2).” That legal action was settled in January of last year.