phil-stafford-shutterstock-com-justin-bieber-
9 January 2017Copyright

Justin Bieber $10 million copyright dispute dismissed

A US district judge has dismissed a long-running copyright dispute concerning music artists Justin Bieber and Usher, centring on their hit song “Somebody to Love”.

On Thursday, January 5, District Judge Arenda Wright Allen ordered that all claims (pdf) against Bieber, Universal Music Corporation and Def Jam Recordings were dismissed with prejudice.

In 2013, musician Devin Copeland filed a copyright infringement claim at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in 2013, claiming that his song, of the same name, was infringed and requesting $10 million in damages.

Copeland wrote the song in 2008 and it featured on his album “My Story II”. Later that year, Copeland registered the song for copyright protection at the US Copyright Office (number PAu 3-554-480) .

In 2009, Copeland entered into discussions with music promoters Sangreel Media, a company that helps artists get in touch with industry professionals and music labels such as Island Records and Sony Music.

According to Copeland’s claim, Sangreel passed on the song to Usher, who Copeland said responded positively to it and suggested he should join the singer on tour.

Nothing materialised and in 2010 Usher posted a version of his song “Somebody to Love” on YouTube.

Usher then produced two more versions of the song with Bieber—one that featured on Bieber’s March 2010 album “My World 2.0” and one that was a re-mixed version containing vocals from both Bieber and Usher, released later that year.

The district court refused to hear the case, and instead granted Bieber and Usher’s subsequent motion for summary judgment.

But, in June 2015, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit revived the claim, after ruling that versions of the song, “Somebody to Love”, could be intrinsically similar to Copeland’s.

Then, in November last year, WIPR reported that Judge Douglas Miller said that Bieber and Usher should be granted summary judgment of the copyright case.

Already registered?

Login to your account

To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.

Two Weeks Free Trial

For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk


More on this story

Copyright
16 November 2016   A judge has recommended that a $10 million copyright claim against Justin Bieber and Usher centring on the song “Somebody to Love” should be dismissed.
Copyright
8 February 2017   Musician Devin Copeland has appealed against the dismissal of a long-running copyright squabble concerning Justin Bieber and Usher.
Copyright
8 January 2018   Singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey has responded to claims that she is being sued by English rock band Radiohead.