Not such a happy return for Beyoncé Knowles' B'Day.
The Dreamgirls star has withdrawn the deluxe edition of her latest album from sale after British singer Des'ree filed a lawsuit accusing her of copyright violation.
Lawyers for Des'ree's music publisher, the Royalty Network, filed court documents in Manhattan last week, alleging that Knowles recorded a cover of Des'ree's "I'm Kissing You" without the proper clearance.
The Royalty Network claimed it had given Knowles permission to rerecord the song, provided she did not change its title or use the track in a video.
However, Knowles apparently chose to ignore those terms completely, as she both recorded the song under the title "Still in Love (Kissing You)" and included it on her B'Day Anthology Video Album.
Earlier this year, the singer told MTV News that she didn't originally intend to use the song on the album and recorded it simply because she'd "always loved it."
"I just did it for myself—a lot of songs, I do like that—and I let people hear it and they were like, 'You are crazy, you have to put it on the album," she said.
"So I did. It was a last-minute decision."
Maybe she should have thought it out a little better.
Upon learning last month that the retitled version would be included on the deluxe edition, the Royalty Network demanded that Sony cease and desist from distributing the album, according to court documents.
However, the label went ahead and shipped the album anyway on Apr. 3, infuriating the Royalty Network, which immediately rescinded its offer to allow Knowles to record the song in any form.
The publisher filed suit last Monday, seeking $150,000 in damages and an injunction to recall the deluxe and DVD editions from stores. On Friday, Knowles' camp agreed to temporarily halt distribution of the album, pending a May 4 hearing on the matter.
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