Photo: WENN

The Weeknd and his people have been accused of sampling the score of a 2013 film called The Machine.

Abel Tesfaye must have had a rude awakening yesterday, as the singer is being sued for copyright infringement on his recent hit 'The Hills'.

The 'In The Night' artist now joins the likes of Adele and Kendrick Lamar, who have both had to face potential legal issues, including recent lawsuits and accusations of stealing songs by fans. Also mentioned within the lawsuit are Tesfaye's producers and his record labels.

As reported on The Hollywood Reporter, the people suing him include a film financier in the UK, who has alleged that 'The Hills' samples the score from an indie 2013 film called The Machine.

Evidence from the lawsuit includes a direct message sent by The Machine's producer Emmanuel Nickerson to the film's composer Tom Raybould, stating: "I sampled your music might make it 2 the weekend next album. Huge fan of what u did 4 the machine movie!"

The suit also states that "both the Infringing Song and the Track [feature] synthesizer bass-lines performed with almost identical idiosincratic sounds at the same register and using the same pitch sequence, melodic phase structure and rhythmic durations."

To read the full lawsuit, go here. The track in question, called 'Revolution', starts at 26:43.

Listen to the tracks below to hear the sample.