Nigerian singer Davido has found himself in legal trouble as a U.S. court has ordered him to appear in court over allegations of intellectual property theft. The lawsuit was filed by four Nigerian artists—Martins Chukwuka Emmanuel, Abel Great Umaru, Kelvin Ayodele Campbell, and David Ovhioghena Umaru—who claim that Davido stole their 2022 song “Work” to create his 2024 track, “Strawberry on Ice.”
According to legal filings obtained by Peoples Gazette, the plaintiffs allege that in January 2022, they shared a demo of “Work” with Davido, hoping for a potential collaboration. Instead, they claim that Davido took the song to Emmerson, who then sampled the song’s individual elements without permission to create the track that would later become “Strawberry on Ice.”
The plaintiffs tried to settle the matter amicably and reached an agreement with Davido on March 14, 2025. The agreement required Davido to pay $45,000 in settlement and offer the plaintiffs 40 percent of the royalties for the composition and 20 percent of the royalties for the sound recording of the song.
However, Davido allegedly failed to meet the deadline of March 24, 2025, to make the agreed payment. As a result, the plaintiffs filed a lawsuit on April 4, 2025, seeking damages and a ruling on the intellectual property infringement.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to award them $150,000 in damages, along with the transfer of significant rights to the composition and sound recording royalties of “Strawberry on Ice.” They also want the court to prevent the defendants from further infringing upon their copyrights or any future works.
“Instead of collaborating, Davido took the song to Emmerson, who then sampled the individual recorded instrumental and vocal elements of ‘Work’ without permission,” the plaintiffs’ legal filings stated.
Article updated 4 days ago. Content is written and modified by multiple authors.
