Ariana Grande sued by Josh Stone over hit song ‘7 Rings,’ accused of copyright infringement

Ariana Grande’s smash hit “7 Rings” has generated the pop star a No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a Record of the Year Grammy nomination and now a lawsuit.

Grande was sued for copyright infringement in a federal complaint filed in New York on Thursday by hip-hop artist Josh Stone, who claims that “‘7 Rings’ is a forgery,” Billboard and People report.

Stone, who performs under the stage name DOT, says that Grande copied the hook from his 2017 song “You Need It, I Got It,” alleging that forensic musicologists determined the songs are “identical or substantially similar.”

For example, “Each hook contains twelve words, with 7 RINGS drawing on nine identical words of [I GOT IT]”:

Grande’s “7 Rings”: “I Want It, I Got It. I Want It, I Got It”

Stone’s “You Need It, I Got It”: “You Need It, I Got It. You Want It, I Got It.”

Stone is asking the court for several actions, including declaratory judgment of copyright infringement, damages and profits attributable to the infringement and attorneys’ fees and other related costs.

The suit also claims that songwriter and producer Thomas Lee Brown, a co-defendant who has worked with Grande on all five of her studio albums, attended meetings with Stone in June 2017, where “You Need I Got It” was played.

In addition to Brown, Grande has 12 other co-defendants, including both individuals and companies.

USA TODAY has reached out to Grande’s rep for comment.

Read more at usatoday.com.