US singer Will Loomis sues UK singer Jessie J over alleged copyright violation

Friday, June 29, 2012

Jessie J in 2011.
Image: Gelf Herrara.

Will Loomis, lead singer of the US music group Loomis & the Lust, is suing UK singer Jessica Cornish, known by her stage name Jessie J, and Universal Music Group, Lava Records, and Universal Republic Records for allegedly using elements of his 2008 song Bright Red Chords in Cornish's 2011 track Domino without his copyright permission. In a written statement to Billboard, Chris Arledge, Loomis's lawyer, said Loomis "never consented to the use of his song" and the prosecuting side "look forward to obtaining an appropriate remedy from the court for this clear infringement".

On Loomis & the Lust's Facebook page, Loomis wrote: "When I wrote this melody in my garage I never imagined it would be sung for the King and Queen of England", adding: "I especially never imagined it would be sung by Jessie J." Loomis, of the US state of California, placed a YouTube video of Bright Red Chords with Cornish's vocals overlaid on it, to illustrate the apparent closeness between the two songs, in April. The video was subsequently banned from the website on "copyright grounds" by Cornish's record label.

Cornish, Łukasz Gottwald, Kelly Claude, Martin Sandberg, and Henry Walter are attributed as the writers of Domino. Representatives of Cornish and Gottwald have not commented on the case, although Cornish has previously said about the song: "People have heard Domino and said, 'It's nothing like you.' But I'm like, 'Well, the album's really eclectic anyway, and I never go into the studio and say, "I wanna do another song that's like Price Tag or another song like Do It Like a Dude." ' "


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