Justin Bieber and Dan + Shay are now accused of stealing parts of their "10,000 Hours" from a decades-old song.
On Thursday, the Los Angeles federal court received the complaint and copyright lawsuit from the company called Melomega. It alleged that the singers stole a portion of their hit song "The First Time Baby is A Holiday."
As quoted by Variety, the complaint read: "One need only listen to 'First Time' and the infringing '10,000 Hours' to discern the unmistakable similarities between the songs." The claim is supported by musicologist Dr. Alexander Stewart, who arrived at the "ineluctable conclusion that defendants stole plaintiff's song."
It added that Bieber and Dan + Shay's "10,000 Hours" allegedly copied the most important and core portion of the song, including the chorus, verse, and hook.
"The First Time Baby Is A Holiday" was originally copyrighted in 1980. However, the Orchard - which is owned by Sony Music -- released it in 2014. Palmer Rakes and Frank Fioravanti, the founders of Melomega, wrote the song.
Meanwhile, Bieber and Dan + Shay released "10,000 Hours" in October 2019 and immediately debuted at No. 4 on the Hot 100. It also scored the Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 2021 Grammy Awards.
The defendants in the case are yet to address the issue. But they are not the first artists to be bombarded with song-theft copyright lawsuits this year.
More Singers Facing Copyright Lawsuits
Aside from Bieber and Dan + Shay, artists like Dua Lipa and Sam Smith also started dealing with a similar case.
Months ago, a band called Artikal Sound System filed a legal document alleging that Dua Lipa's "Levitating" is a ripoff of their 2017 track, "Live Your Life." It stated that Dua Lipa and her team heard about their earworm before 2020. At that time, the "Don't Start Now" hitmaker's team and made a copy out of it.
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Artikal Sound System did not detail how Dua Lipa potentially applied the ripoff on "Levitating," but the group also sued Warner Records in the document. They are now demanding profits that "Levitating" made as well as other damages fees.
Meanwhile, Sam Smith and Normani were accused of stealing their 2019 hit song "Dancing With a Stranger" from a 2015 track of the same title.
"In both songs, the title, hook, chorus, lyrics, and musical composition are all the same - and are repeated throughout the song, giving both songs their identities," songwriters Jordan Vincent, Christopher Miranda and Rosco Banlaoi said.
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