The publisher for the late r&b great Bill Withers thinks that Olivia Dean’s “I’ve Seen It” is too close for comfort one of the singer/songwriter’s biggest hits — and they’re taking their case to court.
On Thursday (Oct. 1), Bleunig Music filed suit in Manhattan federal court against Dean’s label Capitol Records, its parent company Universal Music Group, and several publishing companies. Bleunig claims that “I’ve Seen It” copies the 1980 song “Just the Two of Us,” which was co-written by Withers, “in large and significant part,” including by biting the song’s melody.
“Just the Two of Us,” by saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. with lead vocals by Withers, was released on Washington’s 1980 LP Winelight, and came out as a single in early 1981, peaking at no. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 that May. Rap fans may be familiar with Will Smith’s 1997 song of the same name, which both samples and interpolates Withers’ track.
Bleunig says in their complaint that upon coming across Dean’s song this summer, they hired a musicologist to compare the two tracks, and that he “concluded that the works contain substantial similarities in protectable musical expression, including repeated copying of the distinctively protectable melody.”
The company is asking for an injunction restraining the defendants from further infringing their copyright, and for all of the profits derived from Dean’s song.
Withers originally founded Bleunig in 1978. The singer and songwriter died in 2020.
