Pop star Demi Lovato has been hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit from alternative pop group Sleigh Bells, who claim that she lifted musical elements of their 2010 track ‘Infinity Guitars’.

The Hollywood Reporter revealed that a complaint filed on Monday (August 22nd) in a federal court in California claimed that Lovato’s 2015 track ‘Stars’, which was released on her album Confident, features elements of bass drum and hand-clap rhythms taken wholesale from Sleigh Bells’ own track.

Demi LovatoDemi Lovato's 'Stars' is at the centre of a copyright infringement lawsuit

The lawsuit, naming Alexis Krausse and Derek Miller of the duo as claimants, reads: “A comparison of the two songs reveals that, at the very least, the combination of the hand claps and bass drum, structured as 3 quarter beats and a rest, with the bass drum providing a counter-rhythm to the hand claps, is at least substantially similar in both works… This infringing material repeats throughout the Defendants’ song.”

Lovato, UMG Recordings and producers Carl Falk and Rami Yacoub are all named as the defendants in the lawsuit.

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It isn’t the first time that Sleigh Bells, who are currently preparing their fourth studio album, have claimed that Lovato’s track is substantially similar to their own.

Sleigh BellsSleigh Bells' Alexis Krausse performing in 2016

“Demi Lovato flattered you guys sampled ‘Infinity Guitars’ & ‘Riot Rhythm’ for ‘Stars’ but we were not contacted. Gotta clear those,” they said on Twitter more than a year ago when Lovato’s track was first released, naming another one of their own songs in the process.

“We did not use any samples in Demi Lovato’s song Stars. Demi was also not involved with the production,” producers Falk and Yacoub said back at the time. “She only wrote top line.”

In the current lawsuit, Sleigh Bells have formally argued their case that the songs in question are “virtually identical” and that the similarities “transcend the realm of coincidence”.

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