The infringement case against The Weeknd, Max Martin and the co-writers and publishers of “A Lonely Night” from the artist's 2016 album Starboy—a case that made headlines when it was filed in April 2019—was dismissed by a U.S. District Court judge on 7/22.
Specifically, the court dismissed the complaint on summary judgment—meaning not enough evidence was presented for the case to go to trial as a matter of law. There was no infringement, nor did the claimants ever have access to the song. What’s more, a musicologist serving as an expert witness for the defense found “ no significant structural, harmonic, rhythmic, lyrical or melodic similarities between ‘A lonely Night’ and [the claimants’ song] ‘I Need a Love.’”
In legal language, the court does “not weight the evidence or determine the truth of the matter, but only determines whether there is a genuine issue for trial.” In this case, there was none whatsoever.
