The Weeknd Sued for Allegedly Ripping Off UK Songwriters for 'A Lonely Night'

The Weeknd is accused of ripping off three songwriters for one of his popular tracks and now they are suing for all profits from his alleged knock-off.

According to court documents obtained by The Blast, three songwriters from the U.K., Williams “Billy” Smith, Brian Clover and Scott McCulloch are suing The Weeknd and a Canadian rapper, named Belly.

This copyright infringement suit accuses The Weeknd of blatantly copying Plaintiffs’ song “I Need To Love” to create the song “A Lonely Night,” one of the featured tracks on his chart-topping and Grammy award-winning album, Starboy.

The suit claims in 2004-05, three UK songwriters, Williams “Billy” Smith, Brian Clover and Scott McCulloch wrote a song entitled, “I Need To Love” and pitched it to many artists all over the world.

They claim that a division of Universal Music acquired the rights to their songs in 2008, but were told in 2016 that the label was relinquishing all rights.

However, they weeks later they were told The Weeknd released "A Lonely Night," and they thought something was fishy.

The boys actually edited the two songs together, and there do appear to be striking similarities.

The writers now want unspecified damages, along with $150,000 per infringement and forensic accounting to figure out just how much they're owed.

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