Davido faces legal action in U.S over alleged song theft, $45,000 debt

A United States court in the Southern District of New York has given Nigerian music star Davido 21 days to respond to a lawsuit accusing him of stealing intellectual property.

Times of Nigeria reports that four Nigerian artists, Martins Chukwuka Emmanuel, Abel Great Umaru, Kelvin Ayodele Campbell, and David Ovhioghena Umaru, filed the case, claiming Davido copied their 2022 song titled Work and used it as his own in a 2024 track called Strawberry on Ice.

The lawsuit doesn’t only involve Davido. It also includes artists featured on the song such as Emmerson, Carlos Jenkins, Matthew Quinney, Marques Miles II, and Wynn Records, the label behind the track.

Times of Nigeria reports that the plaintiff took his spot titled “Work” to Davido for a possible collaboration.

However, Davido took the song to Emmerson, who proceeded to steal and sample individual recorded instrumental and vocal elements of the ‘Work’ to create their own version “Strawberry on Ice.’’

The plaintiffs reportedly reached out to Davido and his team group and he agreed to pay a lump sum of $45,000 in settlement on March 14, 2025, court documents showed.

Davido also agreed to give the plaintiffs 40 per cent of royalties for the underlying composition of “Strawberry on Ice” and 20 per cent royalties for sound recording of the song.

However, Davido failed to fulfill the terms of the agreement despite promising to pay before a March 24 deadline agreed upon by all parties.