Usher And Justin Bieber Hit With Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

  • 03 May 2013

R&B star Usher and his protege JUSTIN _B_IE_B_ER have been hit with a $10 million (£6.2 million) copyright infringement lawsuit from two songwriters who claim they penned the teen's hit track SOME_B_ODY TO LOVE.

Devin Copeland, a singer who performs under the name De Rico, and Mareio Overton filed papers in the U.S. District Court in eastern Virginia on Thursday (02May13), claiming they created the song in 2008 and included the tune on De Rico's album My Story Ii.

The pair allege the Yeah! hitmaker was exposed to the record through mutual acquaintances, and went on to create a demo version of the track, which was posted on YouTube.com.

_B_ieber eventually recorded Somebody To Love and included it on his 2010 album My World 2.0, while Usher released a remix of the song.

Copeland and De Rico are suing for copyright infringement, contributory infringement and vicarious infringement, citing several similarities between their version of the track and the _B_ieber/Usher rendition, according to the legal papers, which were obtained by TheWrap.com.