Last week, Royalty Network Inc., the company that administers the rights to “I’m Kissing You”, filed suit against pop diva Beyonce, her record label, Columbia Recording, its parent company, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, and honestly everybody in the world with ties to her latest album. When it comes to stealing or “borrowing” music, it seems even the mightiest are not immune to the wrath of record companies.

The plaintiff argues that Beyonce’s version of the song, though altered significantly, containing additional lyrics and an altered title, it is still somehow protected. If this complaint is valid, the singer and her record company failed to get the necessary written agreement to release the remake. They have requested that Sony BMG cease distribution of the album plus damages in excess of $150,000.

Earlier this week it was reported that copies of the album containing the song were being pulled from shelves, but these claims have proven baseless. New shipments of the album “B’Day Deluxe Edition” will not contain the disputed track, even though bonus DVDs already contain a music video for the song, but no issue has arisen internationally, since foreign copies have already excluded the track.

Des’ree Weeks has not commented on the use of her nearly-antique song, originally released in 1996, and representatives for The Royalty Network declined to comment, presumably for fears that they’d look like greedy jackasses or that their comments would be stolen, slightly altered and republished eleven-years in the future without paying them millions of dollars.

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