Olivia Dean is accused of copying the melody of Bill Withers’ Grammy-winning hit song “Just the Two of Us” for the closing track of her latest album.
A lawsuit was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleging that Dean’s “I’ve Seen It” copies “in large and significant part” Withers’ song. Mattie Music Group, which controls Withers’ catalog, says in the suit that it used a musicologist who compared the two songs and found “substantial similarities.”
The defendants — Capitol Records, Universal Music Group, Sony Publishing, and Kobalt Music Publishing America — were notified in writing in August of the infringement, the lawsuit says.
None of the defendants immediately responded to a request for comment on Monday. NBC News reached out to the Withers estate and Dean for comment. Dean is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
“Despite receiving notice, defendants continued reproducing, distributing, licensing, publicly performing, and commercially exploiting the infringing work,” the suit states.
“Just the Two of Us” was performed by jazz saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. with lead vocals by Withers, who died in 2020. It was released to radio stations in 1981, becoming a huge hit for Withers. The song reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and won a Grammy for Best R&B Song, according to the lawsuit.
Mattie Music Group says in the lawsuit that because of the song’s success and “decades of radio play,” the defendants had a reasonable opportunity to hear the song before creating “I’ve Seen It.”
“I’ve Seen It” is featured on Dean’s album “The Art of Loving,” which won her Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards in February.
