Drake and Chris Brown are arguing that the copyright infringement lawsuit over their smash hit “No Guidance” is “baseless”. Billboard also reports that the two artists are requesting a dismissal of the suit.
Filed by Brandon Cooper and Timothy Valentine, the two claim that the duo took their 2016 song “I Love You” and created “No Guidance”. Cooper and Valentine allege Brown and Drake stole the hook “you got it” amongst other things. Drake and Brown’s attorney, James G. Sammataro has rejected the allegations, claiming the phrase is too common to violate copyright law.
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“Plaintiff’s suit is premised upon the alleged similarity [to a] wholly generic lyrical phrase,” Sammataro wrote in a statement. “No one, including plaintiffs, can own or monopolize the non-copyrightable phrase ‘you got it’, and it should come as no surprise that this phrase appears in countless other works,” he added.
Cooper and Valentine’s complaint also included a slew of other similarities between the songs, claiming that the Grammy-nominated single “was copied” or “derived” from “the beat, lyrics, hook, rhythmic structure, metrical placement, and narrative context” of “I Love Your Dress”. Sammataro also denied this allegation.
In addition to his argument, Sammataro has noted that Cooper and Valentine couldn’t prove that the artists even came across their song, which is required in a copyright infringement case.
“No Guidance” appeared on Chris Brown’s 2019 album Indigo. The Drake-assisted track secured a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Song and won Best Collaboration Performance, Best Dance Performance, and Song of the Year at the 2019 Soul Train Awards.
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