International Afrobeats superstar David Adeleke professionally known as Davidois under legal fire in the United States, as a Federal Court issued a 21-day deadline for the artist to respond to a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by four Nigerian musicians.

The lawsuit was filed by a group of four other Nigerian artistes, Martins Chukwuka Emmanuel, Abel Great Umaru, Kelvin Ayodele Campbell and David Ovhioghena Umaru, who accused Davido of stealing their 2022 song ‘Work’ with hopes of collaboration, which he allegedly used to create his own soundtrack title ‘strawberry on Ice’  in 2024

Davido was sued alongside Emmerson Amidu Bockarie, professionally known as Emmerson, featured on the musician’s song, Carlos Jenkins, Matthew Quinney, Marques Miles II and Wynn Records, the music agency responsible for publishing and distributing the “Strawberry on Ice.’’

According to the legal filings, the issue reportedly started in January 2022 when the plaintiffs, in good faith, gave Davido the demo of ‘Work’ as part of a potential collaboration between parties, prompted by the group’s search for a major breakthrough in the music industry.

However, the plaintiffs claimed instead of working with the group, Davido, without permission, 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.’’

To resolve the issue amicably, the plaintiffs immediately reached out to Davido and were finally able to get hold of their Grammy-nominated musician after several months and he subsequently entered an agreement with the group 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.

In response, the plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against Davido and his co-defendants on April 4 in New York. The plaintiffs are seeking a court ruling that Davido and his co-defendants infringed upon the intellectual property rights of ‘Work.’ They are also seeking $150,000 in damages, as well as the transfer of 40 percent of the compositional copyright and 20 percent of the sound recording copyright of “Strawberry on Ice” to the plaintiffs.