The copyright infringement lawsuit against Travis Scott, Future and SZA over their 2023 collaboration “Telekinesis” will proceed.
Last July, the artists, along with producer BoogzDaBeast, asked for the suit, filed by gospel vocalist Victory Boyd, to be dismissed. On Monday (March 9), Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil decided against them (for the most part), and ruled the case will continue.
Boyd alleged that elements of “Telekinesis” were lifted from her 2019 song “Like the Way It Sounds,” which was written four years before Scott released his collaboration with SZA and Future on Utopia.
Boyd claimed that “Like the Way It Sounds” began life when Kanye West (who, to the judge’s mild surprise, is not a part of the lawsuit) gave her “some chords and melodies that he liked” and asked her to write music. Later, she says West played the demo for Travis Scott, who subsequently created “Telekinesis.”
Although Boyd was given an eight percent writing credit and named as co-songwriter of “Telekinesis,” the singer claims that she did not give permission to Scott, SZA, and Future to use portions of her song.
In her rejection of Scott and co’s attempt to dismiss Boyd’s lawsuit, Judge Vyskocil said that it was too early in the process to rule out Boyd’s claims of copyright ownership.
The judge added, “There exist almost no factual indicia in the record before the court with respect to the collaborative relationship between [Boyd] and Ye — the very relationship that the moving defendants assert entitles them to dismissal of plaintiffs’ claims.”
A portion of the motion was granted, however, as “Like the Way It Sounds” was not copyrighted until the release of “Telekinesis” in 2023, so Boyd will not be eligible for damages incurred before the track was copyrighted.
“Telekinesis” charted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 26 in 2023, was used in a Audemars Piguet campaign (the watch brand was a defendant in the lawsuit initially, but Boyd dismissed them voluntarily), and was featured in the 2025 Kahlil Joseph art film BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions.
Boyd seeks for the plaintiffs to “recall and destroy” the material released from her original song. The vocalist also wants a payment amount “to be determined at trial in actual damages and profits, plus interest.”