Nigerian music superstar David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, has been given 21 days to respond to a summons issued by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York over allegations of intellectual property theft in regards to a song.
The lawsuit, filed by four Nigerian musicians—Martins Chukwuka Emmanuel, Abel Great Umaru, Kelvin Ayodele Campbell, and David Ovhioghena Umaru—accuses Davido of copying their 2022 track titled Work to create his 2024 release Strawberry on Ice.
The legal action also names other defendants, including Emmerson Amidu Bockarie (stage name: Emmerson), who featured on Strawberry on Ice, as well as Carlos Jenkins, Matthew Quinney, Marques Miles II, and Wynn Records, the label responsible for distributing the song.
According to court documents, the dispute dates back to January 2022, when the plaintiffs say they shared a demo of Work with Davido in hopes of securing a collaboration that could boost their careers. Instead, they allege, Davido took the material without permission and passed it on to Emmerson, who incorporated significant elements of the track into Strawberry on Ice.
The plaintiffs claim that after multiple attempts to resolve the matter privately, Davido agreed during a conversation on March 14, 2025, to pay a lump sum of $45,000 as settlement. He also purportedly agreed to pay the group 20% of the royalties from the sound recording and 40% from the song’s composition rights. However, they allege that Davido failed to fulfill these terms by the agreed-upon deadline of March 24.
As a result, the plaintiffs officially filed the lawsuit on April 4, seeking a court declaration that Davido and his associates infringed on their intellectual property. They are demanding $150,000 in damages and a court order awarding them 20% of the sound recording and 40% of the compositional rights to Strawberry on Ice.
Additionally, they have asked the court to bar Davido and the other defendants from any further use of the disputed material or engagement in future activities that could infringe on the group’s copyrights.
As of the time of filing, Davido has not publicly responded to the allegations.
