Drake’s ‘Janice STFU’ copyright suit dismissed without prejudice
Producer Aviel Calev Hirschfield withdrew the complaint; the filing gives no reason and the dispute was never decided on its merits.
File photo: Drake at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival premiere of The Carter Effect. Photo by GabboT via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0; unrelated to the case. GabboT · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Resized for display.
Producer Aviel Calev Hirschfield voluntarily dismissed his copyright case against Drake, OVO Sound and Universal Music Group on October 27, according to a notice filed in federal court in California. Complex and XXL reported the dismissal, and the two-page notice states that the entire action was dismissed without prejudice.
The notice ends the complaint without a merits ruling
Hirschfield had alleged that the chorus of “Janice STFU” copied a demo he made. Drake’s representatives denied the claim, as both outlets reported. The allegation was contested; the docket notice records no finding that copying occurred.
The notice gives no reason for the withdrawal. Because the complaint ended without prejudice, the filing itself is not a decision on the underlying copyright dispute.
