Olivia Dean song faces copyright claim over Bill Withers hit
The company behind Bill Withers' "Just the Two of Us" has filed a copyright lawsuit claiming Olivia Dean's "I've Seen It" copies the older song "in large and significant part".
Mattie Music Group filed the case on 1 Oct, according to the complaint obtained and first reported by Billboard. The filing centres on two songs released 45 years apart.
Dean herself is not named as a defendant. The co-writer credited alongside her on the track, Max Wolfgang, is also not named.
Instead, the lawsuit targets the companies around the song. They are Universal Music Group's Capitol Records, the record label that released Dean's music, and Sony Music Publishing and Kobalt, the music publishers that administer songwriting rights and collect royalties for writers. Sony is linked in the case to Dean's share, while Kobalt is identified as publisher for Wolfgang.
At the heart of the claim is melody. The complaint says Mattie Music Group hired musicologist Alexander Stewart to compare the two works. Stewart concluded they contain "substantial similarities in protectable musical expression", including what the filing describes as repeated copying of distinctively protectable melody.
That language matters. Copyright law does not cover general ideas or styles. It protects specific expression, such as a distinctive run of notes or lyrics.
The older song in dispute is well known. "Just the Two of Us" was released in 1980 by Withers with saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, the US singles chart, and won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song. Withers himself is not listed as a plaintiff in the new case. The claim is brought by Mattie Music Group.
The newer song is the closing track on Dean's 2025 album The Art of Loving, according to the UCSD Guardian.
What makes this stand out is the shape of the defendants list. The writers are absent. The labels and publishers are present.
No ruling has been made. The filing is an allegation, not a finding, and the defendants have not yet had their response reported in court.
