The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan has issued Nigerian singer David ‘Davido’ Adeleke 21 days to appear before the court to address charges of intellectual property theft, as indicated by legal filings obtained by Peoples Gazette.
A group of four Nigerian artists, Martins Chukwuka Emmanuel, Abel Great Umaru, Kelvin Ayodele Campbell, and David Ovhioghena Umaru, filed the case, accusing Davido of copying their 2022 song ‘Work’, which he reportedly utilised to make his own soundtrack named ‘Strawberry on Ice’ in 2024.
Along with Davido, the lawsuit also named Emmerson Amidu Bockarie (professionally known as Emmerson), who featured on the track, as well as Carlos Jenkins, Matthew Quinney, Marques Miles II, and Wynn Records, the music agency that handled the publication and distribution of “Strawberry on Ice.”
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The legal filings reveal that the issue began in January 2022 when the plaintiffs, acting in good faith, provided Davido with a demo of “Work” as part of a potential collaboration, driven by the group’s quest for a significant breakthrough in the music industry.
The plaintiffs, however, claim that instead of working with them, Davido took the song to Emmerson without their consent. Emmerson is said to have then stolen and sampled various instrumental and vocal parts of “Work” to produce their version, “Strawberry on Ice.”
In an effort to resolve the matter amicably, the plaintiffs reached out to Davido and, after several months, were able to get in touch with the Grammy-nominated musician. He then agreed to pay a lump sum of $45,000 as a settlement on March 14, 2025, according to court documents.
Davido also committed to giving the plaintiffs 40 per cent of the royalties for the composition of “Strawberry on Ice” and 20 per cent for the song’s sound recording. However, despite agreeing to make the payment by the March 24 deadline, he failed to fulfil the terms of the agreement.
Davido’s failure to comply with the agreement led the plaintiffs to file a lawsuit against him and his co-defendants in New York on April 4.
The plaintiffs are requesting the court to determine that Davido and his co-defendants violated the intellectual property rights of “Work.”
The plaintiffs are also demanding $150,000 in damages, along with the transfer of 40 per cent of the compositional copyright and 20 per cent of the sound recording copyright of “Strawberry on Ice” to them.
Additionally, the plaintiffs requested that the court prohibit the singer and other defendants from engaging in conduct that might violate their future copyrights or from further violating the group’s copyrights.
