Sam Smith and Normani have filed a fresh legal bid to shut down a copyright lawsuit alleging their 2019 hit "Dancing With a Stranger" copied its hook from a lesser-known 2015 song. Their lawyers lodged a summary judgment motion on 7 July, asking a judge to end the case without a trial. The dispute matters because it is a prominent test of how far a short, common lyrical phrase can be protected under copyright, following an appeals court's decision last year to revive the claim after it was initially dismissed in 2023.

The suit, brought in 2022 by artist Jordan Vincent, concerns his track "Dancing With Strangers". As Vincent has conceded there is no evidence Smith's team ever heard his song, he must now prove the works are "strikingly similar" — nearly identical. Smith and Normani's lawyers argue the overlap is only a four-word phrase used in more than fifteen earlier songs, plus unprotected pitches and rhythms, and claim a "fatal defect": that Vincent's track itself allegedly sampled two earlier songs without a licence, invalidating his copyright. Vincent's lawyer counters that the hooks share "virtually identical" pitch sequences and melodic contours, calling this a "fingerprint" linking them. A judge will consider the motion at an August hearing in Los Angeles.