Justin Bieber and his mentor Usher must face a jury trial after a federal appeals court on Thursday reinstated a $10 million copyright lawsuit against them.
The 21-year-old Canadian pop star and his 36-year-old collaborator were accused of copying parts of a song composed by two Virginia songwriters.
The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia revived the May 2013 lawsuit over the song Somebody To Love by a 3-0 vote.
Federal case: Justin Bieber, shown earlier this month in Hong Kong, had a $10 million copyright lawsuit him and mentor Usher reinstated on Thursday by a federal appeals court in Virginia
Devin Copeland, an R&B singer known as De Rico, and his songwriting partner Mareio Overton alleged in their lawsuit that Bieber and Usher stole their 2008 song of the same name.
They claimed that three versions of Somebody To Love recorded by Bieber and Usher shared the beat pattern and time signature and had similar chords and lyrics as well as the same name.
A federal judge in Norfolk dismissed the complaint last year ruling the two versions differed significanty in tone and lyrical content.
Co-defendant: Usher, shown earlier this month in New York City, also was named as a defendant filed over the 2010 song Somebody To Love
'After listening to the Copeland song and the Bieber and Usher songs as wholes, we conclude that their choruses are similar enough and also significant enough that a reasonable jury could find the songs intrinsically similar,' wrote Circuit Judge Pamela Harris for the appeals court.
The appellate court court also found that Biebber and Usher's versions have an 'almost identical rhythm and strikingly similar melody'.
Defendants in the lawsuit also include Vivendi SA's Universal Music Publishing Group and Sony Corp's Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
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