Listening Station: The Great Beyoncé-Des’ree Copyright Controversé

Brian Raftery | April 30, 2007 3:00 am

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As you might have heard, the recently released deluxe edition of Beyoncé’s B’Day album might be pulled from stores, due to a copyright complaint regarding a bonus track called “Still in Love (Kissing You).” The song is a reworking of Des’ree’s 1996 track “I’m Kissing You,” but apparently no one asked for permission: From Billboard:

The Royalty Network Inc., a publishing company administering the copyright on behalf of Timothy Attack, co-writer of the song, alleges that Sony BMG didn’t receive their permission to use “I’m Kissing You.” It is pressing the matter by filing a copyright infringement complaint with the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York — a move that has led to a temporary halt of distribution of the album. Sony BMG, Sony BMG Sales Enterprise, Beyonce, her B-Day Publishing company and EMI April Music are all named in the suit.

A preliminary injunction hearing is set for May 4, which could require Sony BMG to permanently stop distributing the copies of “B’Day — Deluxe Edition” and “B’Day — Deluxe Edition/Video Anthology,” a special Wal-Mart version of the release, and perhaps even remove unsold discs from store shelves. As part of the temporary cease-and-desist, “Still in Love (Kissing You)” has been yanked from digital services (though the rest of the album remains) and the “Still in Love” video has been pulled from video outlets.

We hate it when a song–even a so-so one–disappears without a trace, so in the interest of preservation, we’ve included an MP3 of “Still In Love (Kissing You)” below, which will allow you to compare it to the original, and see which one puts you to sleep first.

Beyoncé – Still in Love (Kissing You) [MP3, link expired] Beyonce’s special edition hits copyright snag [Billboard]

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