Nigerian musician David Adeleke, better known by his stage name Davido, has been given 21 days to come before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan to respond to allegations of intellectual property theft.
The lawsuit was filed by four Nigerian artists, Martins Chukwuka Emmanuel, Abel Great Umaru, Kelvin Ayodele Campbell, and David Ovhioghena Umaru, according to court documents that Peoples Gazette was able to obtain.
They said Davido had stolen their song “Work” from 2022. According to the claimants, Davido utilized their song as inspiration for his 2024 single “Strawberry on Ice.”
Davido is listed in the lawsuit along with Carlos Jenkins, Matthew Quinney, Marques Miles II, Wynn Records, the company that published and distributed “Strawberry on Ice,” and Emmerson Amidu Bockarie (professionally known as Emmerson), who was featured on Davido’s song.
The legal documents state that the problem started in January 2022 when the plaintiffs sincerely shared a “Work” sample with Davido in hopes of working together. At the time, the group was looking for a breakthrough in the music business. The plaintiffs, however, claim that rather than working together, Davido brought the song to Emmerson, who sampled the vocal and instrumental parts of “Work” that were individually recorded without authorization to produce “Strawberry on Ice.”
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The plaintiffs contacted Davido to settle the dispute, and on March 14, 2025, after several months of negotiations, they were able to strike a deal. As part of the settlement, Davido agreed to pay $45,000 and give the plaintiffs 20% of the royalties from the song’s sound recording and 40% of the royalties from the song’s underlying composition, “Strawberry on Ice.” Davido promised to pay before the prearranged date of March 24th, but he did not fulfill his end of the bargain.
On April 4, the plaintiffs responded by suing Davido and his co-defendants in New York. A court decision that Davido and his co-defendants violated the intellectual property rights of “Work” is what the plaintiffs are requesting. In addition, they want to give the plaintiffs 20% of the sound recording copyright and 40% of the compositional copyright of “Strawberry on Ice,” along with $150,000 in damages.
They are also requesting that the court stop the defendants from violating the plaintiffs’ copyrights any further or from taking any other measures that would violate their future works.
