Photo Credit: Zayn Malik by ianthebush / CC by 2.0
A copyright infringement lawsuit filed against former One Direction member Zayn Malik nearly three years might finally be reaching a settlement.
Back in late 2023, pop star and former One Direction member Zayn Malik was hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit over his hit, “Better.” That lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleged that the track was the result of “blatant copying” of a lesser-known song released three years prior. Now, things are finally moving towards a settlement, nearly three years later.
The filing claimed that Malik’s “Better” took “numerous significant compositional elements” of “Somebody Tonight,” a 2018 song written and performed by musician and songwriter Patrick Simmons (but not the one from the Doobie Brothers), under the stage name Havyn.
In 2020, Simmons allegedly hired music promotion agency Modern Music Marketing (MMM) to promote a different song, when a representative from the company told Simmons that they would promote “Somebody Tonight” for free, as they considered it to be a superior track. Later that year, Simmons claimed to have found out through that same rep that MMM also promoted Zayn Malik’s “Better,” released a month prior.
Simmons said he sent a cease and desist letter to Sony in December 2020, but the company “expressly [denied] any infringement claims relating to the infringing work.” As a result, Simmons filed a lawsuit, naming Malik, as well as Sony Music Entertainment (which owns RCA Records, under which “Better” was released), and five people credited as songwriters on the track.
But afterward, things remained quiet on that front, at least from a public-facing perspective.
Now, nearly three years later, a notice that a settlement had been negotiated was signed on March 31, 2026. That was brought to Digital Music News’ attention this week—though even now, nothing has been finalized. A status report updated just a few weeks ago indicated that talks remain ongoing.
Meanwhile, Zayn Malik has been in the news following a viral video in which he was seen telling a crowd to “get the fuck out of the way” as he made his way from his hotel to a waiting car in Manchester. Following fan backlash to the incident, Malik released a statement clarifying that the fans blocking the way weren’t fans at all.
“Let’s just get the facts straight—the fans were and always are respectful and amazing,” he wrote in an Instagram comment. “The issue was the multiple fully grown men that were blocking the doors of the hotel and the car for 10 minutes, not letting us or security out.”
The singer claimed the people involved were “stalkers” trying to get content for social media. “It is not safe and not okay, and they ruin it for the real fans,” he added.
Malik suffered more frustrations with so-called fans, dodging water bottles being thrown at him during a fan Q&A event at Banquet Records in Kingston, England, this week. The musician hasn’t made a public statement about this incident.
Zayn Malik recently cancelled his scheduled U.S. dates for his KONNAKOL Tour, following his hospitalization last month for a cardio-related illness. He kicked off the tour in Manchester last week and will continue through June with three shows in Mexico and more in South America in October.
