Why is Pitbull being sued? Rapper's I Feel Good infringement lawsuit explored

Pitbull is facing an infringement lawsuit over his popular 2021 track, I Feel Good, featuring DJWS and Anthony Watts. Pitbull's hit track ruled the Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs list for 27 weeks, with seven being its highest ranking.

On Thursday, August 8, All Surface Publishing filed a lawsuit at the Manhattan federal court against Pitbull's record label, Mr 305 Inc and DJ White Shadow, the producer of the singer's track. As per the lawsuit, the singer's I Feel Good track is an "exact copy" of Debonair Samir's 2006 number, Samir's Theme. The lawsuit said:

"The infringement is an exact copy of a discernible portion of plaintiff's musical work that was copied. When heard in real time, the descending lines of both songs appear to be almost identical."

All Surface Publishing also claimed in their lawsuit that producer DJ White Styles allegedly loved the song Samir's Theme when the company's owner, Aaron LaCanfora, sent it to him in 2006.

As per Billboard, Universal Music Group is also one of the defenders in the lawsuit. However, the publication noted that despite Mr Worldwide's company Mr 305 having a distribution deal with UMG Property Ingroves. the company is solely owned by the singer.

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Pitbull purchased rights to Florida International University's football stadium

KTUphoria 2022 - Source: Getty

Pitbull and his company faced the infringement lawsuit shortly after the singer had bought the naming rights to Florida International University's football stadium.

On Tuesday, August 6, the singer reportedly signed a five year deal with the school. As per their agreement, the FIU stadium will be renamed Pitbull Stadium from its old name, Riccardo Silva Stadium.

Additionally, the Miami native singer is set to pay a whopping sum of $1.2 million to Florida International University every year throughout the deal. The singer will have an option to renew the deal for five more years after that. This is the first time a deal between a school and a musician will lead to a stadium being named after a major music personality.

In an official statement, Pitbull spoke about the new deal, claiming that he and FIU are creating history together. He hoped that other universities would want the same in the future for their stadiums but assured that what he's doing is from the heart, as Florida International University is located in his hometown, Miami. The singer noted:

"What we're doing here is groundbreaking. We're making history. This is history in the making. 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."

Before the deal, the FIU stadium was known as the Riccardo Silva Stadium, named after the eponymous investor and business tycoon. Silva is the owner of Serie A football club AC Milan and minor league soccer US club, Miami FC. The university is reportedly not renewing the naming rights with Silva.

As per The Athletic, Pitbull will now be considered the “official entrepreneur of FIU athletics.” Mr Worldwide will also be required to come up with a FIU anthem, should be present at at least one FIU fundraiser every year and make 12 social media posts promoting the university in a year.

The singer will also get two suits for every football game and have the provision of using the stadium for up to 10 days in a year. He was also honoured with the provision of a Pitbull-affiliated performer during games.

The newly named stadium is set to open on September 7 while hosting a game against Central Michigan.