Shakira is in a tad of legal trouble, at least with her Spanish language releases. A judge in New York City has ruled that her 2010 track "Loca" from the album Sale el Sol broke copyright laws by being overly similar to the track "Loca con su Tiguere" by Dominican songwriter Ramon Arias Vazquez.
Don't be too quick to criticize the Colombian pop star however. It appears that neither her nor her label realized that they were committing a copyright crime. How? The Spanish-language version of the track also featured Eduard Edwin Bello Pou—a Dominican rapper who performs under the name El Cata—from whom Shakira believed she was borrowing the basis for "Loca." It turned out however that El Cata himself was inspired by Vazquez's track when he wrote his own single. Although El Cata denies copying Vazquez, the shared title of "Loca Con Su Tiguere" didn't help his case. Therefore Shakira falls into the same boat legally.
"There is no dispute that Shakira's version of the song was based on Bello's version," wrote judge Alvin Hellerstein. "Accordingly, I find that, since Bello had copied Arias, whoever wrote Shakira's version of the song also indirectly copied Arias."
It's interesting to note that the language spoken seems to be the only thing tying the pop star to Vazquez. The English version of the song, which she performed with Dizzee Rascal on the accordingly titled The Sun Comes Out, was not even presented as evidence in the case.
Both albums were released on Sony Music, but no damages have been determined for Mayimba, the label that owns Vasquez's work. Shakira's track sold more than 5 million copies.
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