Sleigh Bells are suing Demi Lovato for copyright infringement

Demi Lovato arrives at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas this year. Photo / AP

Imitation is flattery right? Wrong. In Demi Lovato's case it may have come to bite her on the butt.

Today it's been revealed that Sleigh Bells band members Alex Krauss and Derek Miller are suing Lovato and UMG Recordings for apparently sampling two of the band's songs without permission.

Miller tweeted that Stars from Demi's 2015 album, Confident, was very similar sounding to Sleigh Bells' songs Infinity Guitars and Riot Rhythm.

.@ddlovato Demi Lovato flattered you guys sampled Infinity Guitars & Riot Rhythm for "Stars" but we were not contacted. Gotta clear those.

— SLEIGH BELLS (@sleighbells) November 2, 2015

However, producers of Confident, Carl Falk and Rami Yacoub have denied using any of the samples in Lovato's Stars track.

Sleigh Bells' complaint, filed in a federal court in California declared "a comparison of the two songs reveals that, at the very least, the combination of the hand claps and bass drum, structured as three quarter beats and a rest, with the bass drum providing a counter-rhythm to the hand claps, is at least substantially similar in both works. This infringing material repeats throughout [Stars]."

Pitchfork reports it was further alleged that "the signal decay and other sonic signatures" of each song are "virtually identical", and "the similarities...transcend the realm of coincidence or shared genetic material, and inform the very essence of the works."

Pitchfork confirmed that along with monetary damages, Krauss and Miller asked the court for a legal declaration that Lovato, the label, and the producers intentionally infringed on Sleigh Bells' copyright.

Last year, Falk and Yacoub told Entertainment Weekly in a statement: "We did not use any samples in Demi Lovato's song Stars. Demi was also not involved with the production. She only wrote top line."

Listen to Sleigh Bells' songs below: