Shenseea’s legal team has filed for an extension to reply to Stephanie Sarley’s copyright infringement lawsuit, where she alleges that the Jamaican artist copied aspects of her artistic expression in her “Foreplay” video.
Shenseea is being sued for over half a million dollars for the 2019 song. The plaintiff, Sarley, is a California-based visual artist who claims that her fruit porn idea was copied and featured in a 20-second clip of the song.
The lawsuit was initiated in the United States District Court Central District of California, Western Division in late October. It names Shenseea, whose real name is Chinsea Linda Lee, as the defendant, along with her label Interscope Records, an affiliate of UMG Recordings.
According to the plaintiff, Shenseea copied “nearly forty seconds of footage” from her Instagram videos which showed a “unique line of sensual fruit imagery,” which infringes her copyrights. Sarley said that Shenseea’s videos were “sometimes altered slightly in tone or hue” but they closely resembled her “Juicy Fruits” videos registered with the Copyright Office Registration.
In her lawsuit, Sarley claims that Shenseea’s video copies footage from her copyrightable works called the original works” registered as Nos. PA0002064875, PA0002137289 with the name Stephanie Sarley, and PA0002222186 with the name “Juicy Fruits.”
Shenseea has since deleted the video from her account after Sarley threatened to sue her in 2019.
“Sarley never authorized or granted any license to use any portion of the Original Works in the Infringing Work, and Defendants never contacted Sarley or her representatives in order to obtain licenses,” the lawsuit read.
The artist is claiming damages and the disgorgement of all gains, profits, and advantages obtained by Shenseea or “an award of statutory damages in an amount of up to $150,000” for each of her three “Original Works”. She’s also claiming attorney fees and interest.
In the meantime, Shenseea is represented by attorney Robert S Gutierrez. The attorney filed an application to extend the time to answer the complaint. The motion filed on December 19 was granted, and Shenseea now has until January 20, 2023, to file her defense.
“Foreplay” is one of Shenseea’s biggest tracks and was produced by Interscope’s Rvssian.
As for the music video, RD Studios and Romeich Entertainment shot and edited the video.
