Afrobeats singer David Adeleke, better known as Davido, has been summoned by a US federal court to appear in New York within 21 days to respond to allegations of intellectual property theft and breach of settlement.
The lawsuit, filed by four Nigerian artistes, accuses the singer of stealing their 2022 song ‘Work’ and using it to create his 2024 track ‘Strawberry on Ice.’
The plaintiffs—Martins Chukwuka Emmanuel, Abel Great Umaru, Kelvin Ayodele Campbell and David Ovhioghena Umaru—allege in court documents filed at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York that they shared a demo of ‘Work’ with Davido in January 2022 in hopes of collaborating with him to gain exposure.
Instead, they claim Davido used the demo without their permission and collaborated with Sierra Leonean artist Emmerson Bockarie, known professionally as Emmerson, to recreate the track, incorporating both the instrumental and vocal elements from the original demo.
Davido, alongside Emmerson, Carlos Jenkins, Matthew Quinney, Marques Miles II and Wynn Records—the label responsible for publishing ‘Strawberry on Ice’—was named in the lawsuit.
In an attempt to settle the issue outside of court, the plaintiffs assert that they reached Davido several months later and entered into a settlement agreement on March 14, 2025.
Under the agreement, Davido was to pay the group $45,000 and grant them 40% of the compositional royalties and 20% of the sound recording royalties for ‘Strawberry on Ice.’
However, the plaintiffs allege that Davido failed to meet the payment deadline of March 24, 2025, prompting them to take legal action on April 4.
The plaintiffs are now asking the court to declare that their intellectual property rights over ‘Work’ were infringed upon.
They also seek $150,000 in damages and a court order to transfer 40% of the compositional copyright and 20% of the sound recording copyright of ‘Strawberry on Ice’ to them.
Additionally, they are requesting an injunction to prevent Davido and his co-defendants from further using or profiting from the song or infringing on any of their future copyrights.
Davido is yet to comment on the allegation.
