Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' massive hit "Uptown Funk" has landed the artists with a number of copyright lawsuits. According to TMZ, Ronson has just settled the second of three suits aimed at him over the song.
The settlement is with Lastrada Entertainment, the label that owns the rights to Zapp & Roger's 1980 hit "More Bounce To The Ounce." It has not been disclosed whether any compensation was exchanged. The suit stated that "Uptown" ripped off "More Bounce," citing the first 48 seconds of the song and the word "doh" spoken through a talk-box. It also pointed out that Ronson had cited the duo as an influence, and shared notation for both songs.
Unlike the suit from Collage, Bruno Mars was not named this time around. The Collage suit was settled back in April, sources cited that no money was exchanged as both parties agreed to walk away from litigation.
A third suit from Angie Stone and her group The Litigation has yet to be settled.
The three core members of The Gap Band and two additional instrumentalists were granted writing credits on the song after its release following a settlement based on similarities between Funk" and "Oops Up Side Your Head."
"Uptown Funk" spent 14 consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. It has been certified diamond in the U.S. The video has been viewed over 3 billion times on YouTube.