Justin Bieber and Usher sued for copyright over track

Justin Bieber is being sued in America for copyright infringement.

R&B singer Devin Copeland, known professionally as De Rico, and songwriter Mareio Overton have filed a lawsuit in Virginia claiming that they came up with the song Somebody to Love.

The lawsuit also accuses the singer's mentor, Usher, of giving the song to the teen pop star.

Bieber released the song in 2010 with Usher also singing on the recording.

The song peaked at number 15 on the US Billboard singles chart.

Copeland and Overton say that Somebody to Love has the same title, time signature, underlying beat pattern as well as similar chords and similar lyrics, including the chorus.

"There is essentially a zero probability for the number of points of congruence between the two versions of Somebody to Love," Copeland and Overton said in the lawsuit.

Remix version

Justin Bieber, songwriter Heather Bright and the Stereotypes are credited as the writers of Somebody to Love.

Devin Copeland and Mareio Overton claim that music scouts presented Somebody to Love to Usher in 2009.

They allege that Usher's mother, who also serves as his manager at times, asked Copeland to re-record the song and go on tour with Usher.

Justin Bieber is managed by one of Usher's business ventures

After not hearing back from Usher, Devin Copeland alleges in the lawsuit that he heard his song being sung by Justin Bieber on the radio.

Usher, who first recorded the song as a demo for his 2010 album Raymond v. Raymond, later recorded a remixed version with the Canadian teenager singing backing vocals on the song.

The lawsuit lists 19 defendants, including record label Universal Music Corp, a unit of French media company Vivendi.

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