Lawsuit Accuses Olivia Dean Song of Copying Bill Withers Melody

A lawsuit filed Friday accuses British singer Olivia Dean’s record label of copying the melody of Bill Withers’ Grammy-winning classic “Just the Two of Us” in her 2025 song “I’ve Seen It.”

The suit was brought by Mattie Music Group, which publishes Withers’ catalog, and does not name Dean personally. Instead, it targets Capitol Records, Universal Music Group, Sony Publishing and Kobalt Music Publishing, seeking damages, profits and an injunction against further alleged infringement.

The complaint alleges the two songs have “obvious and inescapable similarities” and states that “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.”

According to the lawsuit, Mattie Music Group came across “I’ve Seen It” in August 2026 and hired musicologist Alexander Stewart to analyze it. His preliminary findings allegedly showed substantial similarities in protectable musical expression to the “distinctively protectable melody” of Withers’ original.

The publisher argues that “Just the Two of Us” was so widely heard that Dean and her co-writers, Bastian Langebæk and Max Wolfgang, had ample opportunity to have encountered it before writing “I’ve Seen It.” Withers’ song reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, won a Grammy Award, and has received decades of radio play, streaming and cover versions.

The lawsuit states that Mattie Music Group notified the companies of the alleged infringement on Aug. 17, 2026, but claims they kept commercially exploiting the song afterward.

Who’s involved

Withers first broke through in 1971 with “Ain’t No Sunshine,” which won him his first Grammy. His catalog also includes “Lean on Me,” “Use Me,” “Lovely Day,” “Grandma’s Hands” and “Just the Two of Us.”

Dean, 27, is a British singer-songwriter known for blending soul, pop and jazz-inflected R&B, and has become one of the U.K.’s biggest breakout stars. She released her debut album, “Messy,” in 2023, followed by “The Art of Loving,” which produced hits including “Nice to Each Other,” “So Easy (To Fall in Love)” and “Man I Need.”