The estate of disco icon Donna Summer filed a lawsuit against Kanye West and collaborator Ty
Dolla $ign in February for their use of her song “I Feel Love” on their joint project.
Kanye West has settled the copyright infringement lawsuit brought by the Donna Summer estate
against him and Ty Dolla $ign earlier this year. The lawsuit was over their “unauthorized
interpolation” of Summer’s song “I Feel Love” on their Vultures 1 project, PEOPLE confirms.
According to court documents filed on Thursday, June 20, and obtained by PEOPLE, attorneys for both parties have “entered into a settlement agreement that is a full and final settlement of all of the claims in the action” and each side will cover its own legal expenses.
Following the settlement filing, Larry Stein, lead counsel for the Summer estate, told Billboard that the finalized agreement does not grant West (now known professionally as Ye), 47, permission to use the late singer’s material in the future.
“We did not license the song,” said Stein. “As part of the settlement, they have agreed not to distribute or otherwise use the song. So we got what we wanted.”
The attorney declined to comment on other terms of the settlement, including whether West paid a fee for the copyright infringement.
In court documents obtained by PEOPLE in February, the Donna Summer estate accused West and Ty Dolla $ign, 42, of “blatant theft” for using an interpolation of Summer’s “I Feel Love” on their Vultures 1 song “Good (Don’t Die)” “without permission.”
The lawsuit, naming the Queen of Disco’s husband, Bruce Sudano, as the lead plaintiff, claimed that the musicians “arrogantly and unilaterally decided they would simply steal” the 1977 track after they requested permission from the singer’s estate to use parts of it. According to the filing, the duo was “explicitly denied” permission because Summer’s estate “wanted no association with West’s controversial history.”
“Despite this denial, Defendants shamelessly used instantly recognizable portions of Summer’s hit song, ‘I FEEL LOVE,’ on their recently released collaborative album, ‘Vultures 1,’ and in recorded live concerts,” the lawsuit stated.
Prior to the release of Vultures I, documents alleged that an entity known as “Alien Music” requested the use of excerpts from “I Feel Love” on West’s behalf in late January. Alien Music asked “for expedited review” because of the project’s Feb. 9 release date, which allegedly indicated the rappers had “already completed and readied their song for release without obtaining permission or even notifying the Summer Estate of their use.”
The suit stated that Summer’s estate was “shocked” to learn that West and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 1 released with the inclusion of the “I Feel Love” interpolation despite being “expressly refused permission” to use the song “more than once.”
“In the face of these repeated denials, West and Co-Defendants attempted to get around this roadblock by instead making an unauthorized interpolation,” the filing claimed, adding that the musical collaborators used the “iconic melody” from Summer’s hit as the hook for “Good (Don’t Die)” and “re-recorded almost verbatim” key parts of the song, also allegedly “without permission.”
Documents state that the “infringing recording” was later removed from major streaming platforms and other distributors.
Shortly after Vultures 1 dropped following numerous delays, Sudano posted about the appearance of his late wife’s “I Feel Love” on the project on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “@kanyewest asked permission to use Donna Summer’s song I Feel Love, he was denied… he changed the words, had someone re sing it or used AI but it’s I Feel Love… copyright infringement!!!”
Summer died from lung cancer in 2012 at age 63.
Meanwhile, West has faced other legal trouble since releasing his collaborative project with Ty Dolla $ign, as his former personal assistant sued him in late May for sexual harassment and wrongful termination. A representative for the rapper said he threatened to file his own lawsuit against his ex-employee’s “baseless allegations” in a statement to PEOPLE, but court records do not show that he’s yet filed.