One of Pitbull's biggest songs, "I Feel Good," is the focus of an infringement lawsuit.
On Thursday, the singer's record label, Mr. 305 Inc., and the producer of "I Feel Good," DJ White Shadow, found out they were being sued by a company called All Surface Publishing. According to the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court, Pitbull's 2021 hit featuring Anthony Watts and DJWS is similar to Debonair Samir's 2006 single "Samir's Theme."
"The infringement is an exact copy of a discernible portion of plaintiff's musical work that was copied," the company stated in the lawsuit. "When heard in real time, the descending lines of both songs appear to be almost identical."
The lawsuit also claims in 2011, the owner of All Surface, Aaron LaCanfora, sent Samir's song to Shadow, who allegedly said he loved it. "I Feel Good" spent 27 weeks on Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, peaking at No. 7.
The lawsuit comes just days after Pitbull purchased the rights to Florida International University's football stadium. The 5-year deal struck between the Miami native and the school will see Riccardo Silva Stadium renamed Pitbull Stadium.
In addition, Pitbull will pay FIU $1.2 million a year throughout the deal, which can be renewed for five more years. Pitbull and FIU will be the first participants in the U.S. where a university names a stadium after a famous musician.
"What we're doing here is groundbreaking. We're making history. This is history in the making," Pitbull said in a statement. "You're going to see that every other university is going to want to do the same thing. But the difference is,we don't do this for propaganda, we do it from the heart. We do it because it's meaningful. We do it because I'm from the crib. I'm 305. I'm from the bottom. This is my backyard."