Demi Lovato hit with copyright lawsuit by Sleigh Bells

Demi Lovato is the latest artist to be slapped with accusations of lifting from someone else’s work -- and to get sued for it.

More than nine months after indie noise-pop duo Sleigh Bells publicly called out the pop singer over alleged similarities between a track from her latest album and one of its own, the band has turned to court.

In the complaint filed Monday in California federal court, Sleigh Bells accuse Lovato and her collaborators of lifting material from “Infinity Guitars” — a single off the band’s critically acclaimed 2010 debut, “Treats” — to create “Stars,” which appears on the deluxe edition of Lovato’s most recent album, “Confident.”

Sleigh Bells members Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller name Lovato, producers Carl Frank and Rami Yacoub and UMG Recordings, the owner of Lovato’s label, in the suit.

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Krauss and Miller point specifically to Frank and Jacob’s production for the basis of the suit.

“A comparison of the two songs reveals that, at the very least, the combination of the hand claps and bass drum, structured as 3 quarter beats and a rest, with the bass drum providing a counter-rhythm to the hand claps, is at least substantially similar in both works,” stated the complaint.

The complaint, which was obtained by The Times, alleges that the similarities between the two tracks “transcend the realm of coincidence.”

“The signal decay and other sonic signatures in each of the songs are comprised of and contain virtually identical content, and analyses of the two songs reveal that they are, at least in part, substantially similar, virtually identical, or identical.”

Late last year, a few weeks after the October release of Lovato’s album (it debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200), the band took to Twitter to address the singer and question if two of their records -- “Infinity Guitars” and “Riot Rhythm,” another track that appeared on “Treats” — had been sampled for her song.

“Flattered you guys sampled ‘Infinity Guitars’ & ‘Riot Rhythm’ for ‘Stars’ but we were not contacted. Gotta clear those,” the band wrote.

After Sleigh Bells’ accusation, Frank and Jacob released a statement through Lovato’s reps denying they employed any samples in the production of the record and that the singer wasn’t involved outside of writing its top line.

Reps for Sleigh Bells declined to comment and a representative for Lovato didn’t return a request for comment.

For more music news follow me on Twitter:@GerrickKennedy

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