Beyoncé is once again facing a copyright infringement claim over her Grammy-winning track “Alien Superstar.”
Court documents obtained by the media show that Hirose Enterprise and producer Shuji Hirose have sued the superstar and several affiliated music companies over the song’s opening sample.
At the heart of the dispute is “Alien Superstar’s” instantly recognizable spoken-word intro, the robotic voice instructing listeners to “remain calm” and not “attempt to leave the dancefloor,” which samples the 1998 house track “Moonraker,” a song credited to John Holiday, also known by his stage name Foremost Poets.
Hirose Enterprise claims it, not Holiday, holds the rights to “Moonraker,” alleging the company acquired the copyright decades ago through the now-defunct label Soundmen on Wax.
According to the complaint, Beyoncé’s team failed to secure a license before “Alien Superstar” appeared on “Renaissance” and only obtained clearance from Holiday Weeks after release, clearance Hirose argues Holiday had no authority to grant, since he’d allegedly signed away his interest in the song long before.
The suit reportedly seeks an injunction and unspecified damages.
For context, Parkwood’s licensing deal with Holiday was substantial: he reportedly received $10,000 plus a 0.5% royalty share and a credit on the track, which climbed to No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Notably, this isn’t Hirose’s first swing at Parkwood over this exact sample. A nearly identical case was filed in July 2025 and made headlines in June 2026 when it collapsed on a procedural technicality: the plaintiff company, Hirose Enterprises LLC, wasn’t legally formed until August 6, 2025, eight days after the lawsuit was filed, meaning it lacked standing to sue at all. U.S.
District Judge Mark C. Scarsi dismissed the case, tossing claims against Parkwood, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Music Publishing, and Warner Chappell, and pointedly quoted the “Moonraker” lyrics in his ruling.
Crucially, Beyoncé herself was never named as a defendant in that earlier case, and the dismissal was issued without prejudice, leaving the door open for Hirose to refile.
At the time, the company’s attorney signaled exactly that intent, telling Billboard his client would “continue its pursuit against Parkwood and Ms. Knowles-Carter until their wrongs have been addressed and rectified.”
The new filing appears to be that promised second act, and this time it does name Beyoncé directly, alongside the record labels, suggesting Hirose has moved to fix the jurisdictional defect that sank the first attempt.
The case adds to a pattern of sample-clearance disputes surrounding “Renaissance,” an album widely praised for its dense web of licensed samples and interpolations paying homage to dance and house music history.
Whether Hirose Enterprise can now clear the standing hurdle that doomed its first attempt and ultimately prove it, rather than Holiday, held the rights to “Moonraker,” will likely determine whether this dispute reaches a merits ruling at all. Parkwood has not yet publicly commented on the new filing.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Hirose Enterprise’s first lawsuit over the “Alien Superstar” sample was thrown out in June 2026 purely on a technicality (the plaintiff company didn’t legally exist when it filed), not on the merits of the copyright claim itself.
Now Hirose has returned with a new filing, this time naming Beyoncé directly, aiming to fix that flaw and force a real ruling on whether it or John Holiday actually owned the rights to “Moonraker.”
The underlying question of who really controlled that sample remains legally unresolved.
