Travis Scott is facing a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by three songwriters/music producers. The lawsuit alleged that the rapper used their guitar melody for his song "Highest In the Room" without permission.
Danish producer Benjamin Lasnier and two others took legal action against Scott, real name Jacques Webster, over a guitar melody that he shared on his Instagram account but, allegedly, later on appeared throughout Scott's song. Lasnier accused Scott and the other producers of the track of pretending to be interested in collaboration when they solicited for melodies before "Highest In the Room" was released. However, the complaint stated Scott's camp intentionally broke the rules by using their work without consent or a license and pretending that it is their own.
Aside from Travis Scott, the lawsuit also named all the labels behind the song's release and all who were credited as the producer or engineer. Lasnier filed the lawsuit along with two other songwriters Olivier Bassil and Lukas Benjamin Leth.
In the complaint filed in federal court in California, the songwriters claimed they created a song, titled "Cartier," in 2019 with a distinct guitar melody. Lasnier said they posted a link to the song containing the original guitar melody in a public online discussion group for music producers.
The songwriter/producer, later on, send their original work to at least 100 producers and artists, including "Highest In the Room" song engineer Jamie Lepr. Lasnier claimed he began corresponding with Lepr and sent him beats, hoping he would be interested in licensing the work or Lepr would work with them in future collaborations. Lasnier also shared the song on Instagram.
Then, Travis dropped "Highest in the Room." Lasnier, Bassil, and Leth found out that the guitar melody of the then newly released song was significantly similar to thier song "Cartier."
"Highest In the Room" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 2019. This was Scott's second No. 1 single and first to debut on top of the chart. It garnered 59 million U.S. streams and 51,000 digital song sales in the week ending October. 10. The song spent 22 weeks on the Hot 100.
The three songwriters seek to declare Scott and the others willfully infringed their work. They are also asking for damages and share of the royalties for "Highest in the Room." Travis Scott has yet to make a statement about the lawsuit.
