British singer Adele has been silenced. Well, one of her songs has been, the result of a Brazilian judge ordering her work be pulled worldwide over a plagiarism claim made by a composer.
The preliminary injunction by judge Victor Torres in Rio de Janeiro’s sixth commercial court was made in relation to Adele’s 2015 track Million Years Ago, which a composer claims plagiarises the song Mulheres (Women), recorded by Brazilian singer Martinho da Vila in 1995.
The plagiarism case, which was brought in 2021 by the track’s composer Toninho Geraes, is ongoing, but the injunction demands the song be pulled while it continues, Sky News reports.
The injunction, according to reports citing global news agency AFP, orders the record labels to stop “immediately and globally, from using, reproducing, editing, distributing or commercializing the song Million Years Ago, by any modality, means, physical or digital support, streaming or sharing platform.”
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It threatens the Brazilian subsidiaries of Sony and Universal, the pop star’s labels, with a fine of $8,000 “per act of non-compliance”, the reports say.
“It is a landmark for Brazilian music, which… has often been copied to compose successful international hits,” Fredimio Trotta, the lawyer for Brazilian composer Toninho Geraes who brought the plagiarism complaint, told AFP.
Trotta said his firm this week will work to ensure that radio and television broadcasters, and streaming services around the world, are alerted to the Brazilian ruling.
Adele was also accused by Turkish music fans of plagiarism in “Million years Ago” back in 2015. They claimed its tune was similar to one in a 1985 song by a Kurdish singer, Ahmet Kaya, called “Acılara Tutunmak” (“Clinging to Pain”).
Kaya died in exile in France in 2000, and his widow said it was unlikely a global star like Adele would do such a thing.
