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Business News Legal
Bieber sued over Somebody To Love
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 8 May 2013
The Bieber boy has gone and got himself a brand new copyright infringement lawsuit, which might make up for the lost monkey. Singer Devin Copeland and songwriter Mareio Overton are claiming that Bieber’s 2010 track ‘Somebody To Love’ was basically theirs.
According to the claimants, they presented their song ‘Somebody To Love’ to Justin Bieber’s mentor Usher in 2009. They say there was talk of him recording the track, and of Copeland maybe even touring with the R&B star, but then everything went quiet. And then Bieber rocked up on the radio singing a version of their song.
The track certainly began with Usher, who had initially planned to record it for his sixth album ‘Raymond v Raymond’ before suggesting his then protégé Bieber take it on instead. The released song is credited to production outfit The Stereotypes, songwriter Heather Bright and Bieber himself, who might regret taking the customary popstar namecheck in the songwriting credits if it turns out this lawsuit has any credence.
Copeland and Overton claim that Bieber’s track has the same title, time signature and underlying beat pattern plus similar chords and lyrics to the song they shared with Usher’s people in 2009. Their lawsuit adds: “There is essentially a zero probability for the number of points of congruence between the two versions of ‘Somebody To Love'”.
None of the nineteen parties listed as defendants on the lawsuit have as yet responded.
