Justin Bieber and Usher are facing a US$10 million lawsuit for copyright infringement, being accused of stealing Bieber’s 2010 single Somebody To Love. Songwriter Mareio Overton and R&B performer De Rico, real name Devin Copeland, are claiming to have written the hit single, which went on to reach platinum status.
Filing the lawsuit last week in a U.S. District Court in Virginia, Copeland and Overton claim that Bieber’s Somebody To Love shares the same underlying beat pattern, time signature and even title as their own version, while both songs have similar lyrical content and chord progression.
In the lawsuit Overton and Copeland state that “there is essentially a zero probability for the number of points of congruence between the two versions of Somebody To Love“.
Copeland and Overton claim that Usher came into possession of the song after music scouts presented it to him in 2009. Usher’s mother and occasional manager then supposedly requested that Copeland re-record the song in preparation to go on tour with Usher.
It’s at this stage Copeland was left in the lurch by the ol’ U Turn came about leaving Copeland in the lurch until one day he heard Bieber singing Somebody To Love on the radio. Usher, who recorded a demo Somebody To Love for his 2010 record Raymond v. Raymond, went on to remix the song for Bieber.
As it currently stands the Somebody To Love writing credits are attributed to Bieber, the Stereotypes, and songwriter Heather Bright. J. Bibbles was around 16 years old when the song was released.
(via Reuters)
