Washington DC [US], October 3 (ANI): British singer Olivia Dean’s song ‘I’ve Seen It’ has come under legal scrutiny after a music publisher accused it of copying parts of Bill Withers’ popular 1981 track ‘Just the Two of Us’.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mattie Music Group, which owns the publishing rights to Withers’ music catalogue, filed a lawsuit in California on Thursday, alleging that Dean’s 2025 song shares striking similarities with the late singer’s hit.
The publisher claimed that the similarities between the two songs were “obvious and inescapable”, according to court documents obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
In its complaint, Mattie Music Group argued that the shared musical elements were too similar to be a coincidence or the result of independent creation.
“The number, character, and arrangement of the shared musical features are so striking that they support an interference that the similarities did not result from coincidence, independent creation, or reliance on common musical elements,” the complaint stated as per the publication.
The publisher said it first came across ‘I’ve Seen It’ in August 2026 and listened to the track several times before hiring musicologist Alexander Stewart to examine both songs.
Following his analysis, the publisher alleged that Dean’s track had “copied in large and significant part” Withers’ song and used its “distinctively protectable melody”.
The lawsuit names Capitol Records, Universal Music Group, Sony Publishing and Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc. as defendants, as per the publication. According to the filing, Mattie Music Group attempted to contact them in August but claimed that the companies continued to reproduce, distribute, license and commercially use the song, The Hollywood Reporter said.
Written by Withers, Ralph MacDonald and William Salter, ‘Just the Two of Us’ was released in 1981 and became one of the singer’s best-known songs. The track reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song.
Withers died in March 2020 at the age of 81.
Mattie Music Group is seeking damages, with the amount to be decided at trial. (ANI)
Olivia Dean faces plagiarism lawsuit over ‘I’ve Seen It’, accused of copying Bill Withers’ ‘Just the Two of Us’
