Singer Beyoncé dragged to court over alleged unauthorized sample

Beyoncé is facing a copyright infringement lawsuit over an alleged unauthorised sample used on her hit song “Alien Superstar,” according to court documents obtained by TMZ.

Hirose Enterprise and producer Shuji Hirose are suing Beyoncé and several music companies over the alleged unauthorised use of material from another song.

According to the lawsuit, Hirose Enterprise owns the rights to a song titled “Moonraker,” performed by musician John Holiday. The company alleges that Beyoncé sampled the spoken-word introduction from the song for “Alien Superstar,” which was released as part of her 2022 album, “Renaissance.”

The lawsuit claims Beyoncé and her team did not obtain a licence to use the sample before the album was released. However, they allegedly obtained a licence from Holiday several weeks after the album’s release. Hirose, however, claims that Holiday had transferred his entire interest in the song decades earlier and therefore did not have the authority to grant the licence.

According to the lawsuit, Hirose Enterprise notified Beyoncé’s company of the alleged infringement but claims the record has continued to be sold. The company is seeking an injunction to prevent Beyoncé and the other defendants from continuing to profit from the alleged unauthorised use of the material, as well as unspecified damages.