The Weeknd Sued For Sampling Music Without Consent

This is sure to put a damper on his weekend plans.

R&B hitmaker The Weeknd is named in a copyright lawsuit over his top charting song, "The Hills," according to documents obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.

London-based Cutting Edge Music filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Los Angeles alleging that the song features a score from a lesser-known indie film titled, "The Machine."

The company is suing The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, along with his producers and music giants Universal, Warner Chappell, Sony/ATV and others.

Twitter may play a big role in the case.

Co-defendant Emmanuel (Mano) Nickerson, a music producer who worked on "The Hills," allegedly sent a direct Twitter message to Cutting Edge stating, "I sampled your music might make it 2 the weeknd next album."

"The Hills" was released in May as the second single from his album, "Beauty Behind the Madness."

This isn't the first time the 25-year-old singer has been accused of stealing sounds.

In May, he was accused by Portishead of using a sample of "Machine Gun" in his track "Belong to the World." Geoff Barrow, a member of the group, said The Weeknd claimed he didn't use a sample while in fact, he'd written the band a letter asking to sample from the song. Barrow posted the letter on his Twitter account.

Legal drama aside, it's been a great year professionally for the Weeknd.

He received seven Grammy nominations for “Beauty Behind the Madness.”

SOURCE