Singer Justin Bieber has been sued for copyright infringement for his hit single "Sorry." Singer Casey Daniel (aka White Hinterland) claimed that Bieber and producer Skrillex copied the opening tune of her song "Ring the Bell."
Time said Daniel claims that it was the exact tune of her 2014 single. "The identical and/or striking similarity of 'Sorry' to Plaintiff's song 'Ring the Bell' surpasses the realm of generic coincidence and independent creation," read the legal complaint as quoted by the same report.
The lawsuit explained that Daniel's song began with "ascending vocal flourishes" which sound almost exactly the same as the beginning of "Sorry." It was added in Entertainment Weekly report that the suit also includes Universal Music and Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp.
Aware of the infringement
Daniel's camp added that in making and producing Bieber's hit song, they all knew that they copied music from an original composition. The lawsuit also claimed that they sent a correspondence to Bieber's camp last December about the infringement but got no response.
According to TMZ, "Sorry" only used about 8 seconds of the opening riff but the "Ring the Bell" singer said it was repeated six times in the entire song. She also claimed that Bieber also used percussions, keyboard synthezisers, drums and synth bass just like in her song.
The singer-songwriter also said that like Bieber's single, "Ring the Bell" was also a hit because it got more than 800,000 streams. The song was also named by Rolling Stone as a mag favorite.
Asking for unspecified damages
Because of the alleged infringement, Reuters said the complaint asks for unspecified damages which would include the profits which Bieber got from his No. 1 hit. That would mean a lot of money considering how big "Sorry" made it on the charts.
But Bieber is not the only singer being accused of getting ideas from other songs without their permission. Last year, Pharrell and Robin Thicke were asked to pay $7.4 million to the family of the late Marvin Gaye for copying his "Got to Give It Up" track for their "Blurred Lines" hit.
Do you think Bieber copied "Ring the Bell's" tune? Compare the two songs below.
