A federal judge has refused to dismiss a copyright infringement lawsuit against Sam Smith and Normani over their 2019 hit single "Dancing with a Stranger," sending the case to jury trial after four and a half years. The decision is significant because it validates the plaintiff's claim that the song's distinctive hook closely resembles an earlier track of the same name written by Jordan Vincent and production duo SKX in 2015. The defendants, which include Smith's co-writers, Normani, and major record labels, had sought summary judgment to end the case, arguing no reasonable jury could find the songs substantially similar.

Judge Wesley L. Hsu's order rejected the defendants' attempts to dismantle the comparison element by element, instead assessing the works "as the sum of all the relevant elements together," which supported the plaintiff's musicologist expert, Dr. Alexander Stewart, whose evidence the court found sufficient to present to a jury. The judge also declined to strip copyright protection from the earlier song based on its use of two unlicensed samples from other recordings, finding that the defendants had not demonstrated the samples were substantial enough to invalidate the copyright. The question of independent creation will now be decided by the jury.