In 2019, three British songwriters: Williams "Billy" Smith, Brian Clover and Scott McCulloch sued the Weeknd and
Belly for copyright infringement. They claimed that the 2016
Starboy track was a blatant copy of their 2004 song "I Need to Love". The songwriters demanded an unspecified amount of damages, alongside $150,000 per infringement and forensic accounting to figure out how much they felt they were owed. During the trial, the Weeknd was represented by UK law firm
Russels. The copyright case was later won by the Weeknd after a ruling by the
Central District Court of California. The
Smith, Clover, McCulloch v. The Weeknd case was the second infringement lawsuit against a track from
Starboy. == Charts ==