Grammy awardee Lady Gaga's camp has filed documents this week to challenge plagiarism claims against her about her song "Judas." A source disclosed to RadarOnline that the 28 year-old pop star, whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, has dragged the name of R&B superstar Usher Raymond IV in the hopes of dismissing the charges filed by a songwriter.
In 2011, Rebecca Francescatti has sued the singer and said that her chart topper is a rip-off of her own 1999 song titled "Juda." She contends that the two songs are not a coincidence and she established the fact that her former bass player, Brian Gaynor, was employed by a music company that wrote 17 songs for the pop star's "Born This Way" album. "Judas" is one of the tracks of Lady Gaga's second studio album also released in the same year the charges were filed.
Daily Mail said Francescatti's lawsuit was filed at a federal court in the hopes of seeking damages from the multi-millionaire star. Her lawyer. Chris Niro, told TMZ of his client's goal with the lawsuit, "Though the songs are different styles, the composition is the same and the chorus is the same melody. (Rebecca) is seeking recognition for what she created."
Referring to Usher's case where Zacharia Edwards, Mitch Moses and Vince McClean claimed that the R&B singer's song "Caught Up" was written by the latter, Lady Gaga said in the court filings, "(I)f the title lyrics of the two songs at issue are the same, and even if those lyrics are repeated in a chorus, they are not eligible for copyright protection if common phrases or words. The only lyrical similarity that Francescatti alleges in this case is in the title character - the repeating of "Juda" in her song and "Judas" in Lady Gaga's song (the expression of which in each work is entirely different, in all events)...As in Edwards, which found the lyrics "caught up" to be unoriginal, the lyric "Judas," whether as a song title or lyric, is too common to be protectable."
