Usher and Justin Bieber hit with copyright infringement lawsuit

R&B star Usher and his protege Justin Bieber have been hit with a $10 million copyright infringement lawsuit from two songwriters who claim they penned the teen's hit track Somebody To Love.

Devin Copeland, a singer who performs under the name De Rico, and Mareio Overton filed papers in the District Court in eastern Virginia on Thursday (02May13), claiming they created the song in 2008 and included the tune on De Rico's album My Story II.

The pair allege the Yeah! hitmaker was exposed to the record through mutual acquaintances, and went on to create a demo version of the track, which was posted on YouTube.com.

Bieber eventually recorded Somebody To Love and included it on his 2010 album My World 2.0, while Usher released a remix of the song.

Copeland and De Rico are suing for copyright infringement, contributory infringement and vicarious infringement, citing several similarities between their version of the track and the Bieber/Usher rendition, according to the legal papers, which were obtained by TheWrap.com.