Olivia Dean song at centre of Bill Withers copyright lawsuit
A music publisher has filed a US copyright lawsuit over Olivia Dean’s *I’ve Seen It*, alleging it copies part of Bill Withers’ *Just the Two of Us*. The defendants are music companies, not Dean.
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Mattie Music Group, trading as Bleunig Music, filed the civil complaint in California on 1 October. It names Capitol Records, Universal Music Group, Sony Publishing (US) and Kobalt Music Publishing America as defendants. Dean and her co-writers, Bastian Langebæk and Max Wolfgang, are not named as defendants. [1]
The publisher says it holds rights to *Just the Two of Us*, written by Withers with Ralph MacDonald and William Salter. It alleges that *I’ve Seen It*, a track on Dean’s album *The Art of Loving*, repeatedly copies a protected melody from the earlier song. The complaint cites a preliminary comparison by musicologist Alexander Stewart, commissioned by Mattie Music, in support of that claim. [1] [2]
Mattie Music is seeking damages and profits to be determined at trial, as well as an order preventing further infringement. [1]
Billboard Brasil reported that Universal Music Group, Sony Music Publishing and Dean had not immediately responded to requests for comment. Kobalt declined to comment. [3]
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