Frank Ocean And Producer Malay Sued For Infringement Over ‘Channel Orange’ Track “Lost”

frank ocean lost

This isn’t your typical “recently successful artist slapped with copyright infringement lawsuit” type story.

R&B wunderkind Frank Ocean and his frequent producer/collaborator Malay have been named in a lawsuit over “Lost”, the eleventh track and most recently single released from Ocean’s channel ORANGE. Island Def Jam and Universal music were also listed as defendants in the suit.

The suit against Ocean and Malay (real name James Ryan Ho) is being brought by producer and songwriter Micah Otano, who alleges that “Lost” is essentially a copy of his own composition, “Daylight”. Otano also states that Malay took complete production credit for the track and that Otano’s contribution wasn’t noted.

Here’s the thing, though. There’s no question that Otano had some hand in the creation of “Lost”; he’s credited as a writer on “Lost”, alongside Ocean and Malay. But the issue of his claim that he produced the track to any degree is hazier. Pitchfork reported that the liner notes for channel ORANGE don’t indicate who produced “Lost”.

Otano seems pretty steadfast in his resolve. On March 7th, the day after the paperwork for the lawsuit was filed, he tweeted the following quote from late U.S. president Ronald Reagan, “There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.” All right, then.

Otano is seeking back royalties and damages in the suit. A copy of the lawsuit can been seen here. Check out “Lost” below.

http://youtu.be/o_XQaIcIAfg

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One Response to “Frank Ocean And Producer Malay Sued For Infringement Over ‘Channel Orange’ Track “Lost””

  1. Jacob Tender says:

    I think this is a bad move for Otano. Why fuck yourself? You got a hand in a Frank Ocean single that was on the most talked about album of the year. That’s a door opener. I think he’s slamming it shut with this lawsuit.