While Beyonce remains a force to be reckoned with, adding ‘Fashion Icon’ status to her lineup of awards following the CFDAs this week, and noting her visual album Lemonade has gone platinum, it seems she isn’t exempt from lawsuits, with one having just ben filed against her.
Queen Bey’s team are accused of copying ideas and elements from Matthew Fulks’ film Palinoia – the director claiming that “the number of aesthetic decisions included” in his work “are parroted” in the Lemonade trailer. The official lawsuit (published here) saying;
“…The Lemonade trailer is substantially similar to the Palinoia work… Bother the Palinoia work and the Lemonade trailer are comprised of short visual and audio segments arranged in montage fashion, with certain segments recurring throughout the works.”
Similarities – revealed in still provided by Fulks’ team and described in the suit, are claimed to be;
“…Including, but not limited to, the Palinoia work’s visual and auditory elements, visual and auditory sequence, themes, format, mood, setting plot and pace, all of which create a protectable total concept and feel.”
This isn’t the first time Beyonce has been accused of copying, with her 2011 video for “Countdown” having allegedly ripped off Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s choreography and visuals.
The new law suit arrives in a timely manner though, after Lemonade has just been announced as having gone platinum, selling 653,000 units in it first week – Bey’s sixth platinum-acheiving album in a row.
Matthew Fulks’ team, who are claiming copyright infringement, are seeking an unspecified amount in damages from the entire Lemonade project, though the suit is just aimed at the Lemonade trailer. Fulks alleges that Columbia Records’ senior vice president of video production Bryan Younce (who worked on the visual album Beyonce in 2013) had access to the 2014 Palinoia work, as Fulks had submitted it by email around 5months before filming for Lemonade had begun.
So far, no official statement has been released from Beyonce’s camp, of Sony Records, Columbia Records or Ivy Park Entertainment, who are all named in the suit – but typically Bey remains tight-lipped on both personal and business matters. Though perhaps she’ll drop an epic visual album about it in the future.
While we wait for the outcome, take a look at the two works below and tell us if you think there’s similarities between the Lemonade trailer and the Palinoia work, in the comments box and online by tagging us @SPICTVAFRICA.
Video & image source: Spin.com, I-d.vice.com, Hollywoodreporter.com
