Ice Spice Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Abruptly Dismissed
Photo Credit: Ice Spiceâs Instagram
Ice Spice has reached a settlement to end the copyright infringement lawsuit against her over the hit song, âIn Ha Mood.âIce Spice has reached an agreement to settle a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against her by a Brooklyn rapper who claimed her hit song, âIn Ha Mood,â was copied from his earlier song, âIn That Mood.â
The case, filed earlier this year by Duval Chamberlain, who released a song in 2021 as rapper D.Chamberz, claimed that Ice Spiceâs 2023 hit was âstrikingly similarâ to his track. But attorneys for both sides said in a motion filed in federal court over the weekend, that they had agreed to resolve the lawsuit. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, and neither side has responded to media requests for comment.
D.Chamberz claimed the two songs were so similar that it âcannot be purely coincidental,â asserting that those similarities are at âthe core of each work,â and that listeners had identified those similarities as well. âBy every method of analysis, âIn Ha Moodâ is a forgery,â his attorneys wrote in the lawsuit filed in January. âAny proper comparative analysis of the beat, lyrics, hook, rhythmic structure, metrical placement, and narrative context will demonstrate that âIn Ha Moodâ was copied.â
Further, the lawsuit claimed that Chambersâ song received âsignificant airplayâ on New York City radio stations, including Hot 97, where Ice Spiceâs frequent producer RiotUSAâs father is a longtime DJ. Therefore, the filing says, Ice Spice and others involved in her songâs creation would have had plenty of opportunity to have heard the earlier track.Ice Spice, under her legal name Isis Naija Gaston, was named as a defendant in the lawsuit, as well as RiotUSA (Ephrem Lopez, Jr.), Universal Music Group, Capitol Records, and 10K Projects. Defendants formally denied the allegations back in April, but the case remained in its infancy until Friday, when the agreement was reached.
âIn Ha Moodâ debuted early last year after Ice Spiceâs breakthrough the prior year and spent 16 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. It reached No. 58 on that chart and No. 18 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The song was included on her debut EP, Like..?, and saw a live performance on Saturday Night Live during Ice Spiceâs October appearance as the showâs musical guest.