Lawsuit filed in US over Olivia Dean song and Bill Withers hit — Rolling Stone

A lawsuit has been filed in a federal court in Los Angeles, US, over Olivia Dean's song I've Seen It from the album The Art of Loving. Bill Withers catalog publisher Mattie Music Group claims that the track copies the melody of Withers' 1981 hit Just the Two of Us. Rolling Stone reports.

Publisher's claims

In its seven-page complaint, Mattie Music Group describes the similarity between the tracks as obvious. The plaintiff cites the opinion of a musicologist who, it claims, found substantial similarity and repeated copying of a distinctive melody that may be protected by copyright.

Mattie Music Group says it notified the defendants of the alleged copyright infringement on August 17. According to the plaintiff, the song continued to be distributed, licensed and commercially exploited afterward without changes to the authorship credits.

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Defendants in the case

The defendants named are Capitol Records, Universal Music Group and Olivia Dean's publishing companies. Dean herself, as well as I've Seen It co-writers Bastian Langebæk and Max Wolfgang, are not named as defendants in the lawsuit, and no damages are sought from them.

The plaintiff asks for compensation, the amount of which is to be determined by the court. Representatives of UMG, which owns Capitol Records, did not provide an immediate comment. Journalists were also unable to reach Dean's representative for comment.

The Art of Loving is Dean's second studio album. The record includes the singles Man I Need and So Easy (To Fall in Love); in 2026, the singer won a Grammy Award in the Best New Artist category.