Usher is on the verge of facing a song theft dispute over allegations of stealing material for his Hot 100 No. 1, “Burn,” from a songwriter named Ernest Lee Straughter.

Last month, a California federal judge found there to be sufficient possibility that Usher and co-defendants who produced the song had access to Slaughter’s work, “Reasons,” created in 1998. The judge accepted a musicologist’s report that noted substantial similarity between the songs and denied a motion to dismiss the case on summary judgment. That means a jury might have the rare opportunity to listen to two songs and determine if the Usher song was stolen.

But before that happens, Usher’s camp is pleading with the judge to re-examine whether there was any chance he was familiar with Straughter’s work.

Attorneys for the defendants, including Usher, producer Jermaine Dupri, EMI April Music, Sony Music, Arista Records, and others filed a motion on Friday that asks U.S. District Court Judge Christina Snyder to reconsider her August order denying summary judgment.

In the case, Straugther alleges he created a song entitled “The Reasons Why,” which showed up on an album by the R&B group Reel Tight under the name “No More Pain” in late 1998.
To make the claims stick, Straughter needs to show two big elements — that the defendants had access to his work and there was substantial similarity in the songs.

An expert for the plaintiffs submitted a report that the two songs shared measurable similarities, including a “highly unusual” 18-bar introduction, musical instruments that enter at the exact same bars, similar guitar and vocal stylings, the pitches and phrasings of certain melodies, and other compositional congruity.

Leaving aside the issue of whether these songs sound alike, the big controversy at the moment in the lawsuit is whether Usher and Dupri had access to Straughter’s song. Straughter offered several theories, some more convincing than others.

In her decision, Judge Snyder didn’t buy the one about Usher and members of Reel Tight having much personal contact with each other. But she did rule it to be an issue of material fact whether a third-party intermediary, Warren G, may have provided the link, having had mutual collaboration with both parties. Further, the judge did her own independent research and found Reel Tight’s album to have reached No. 197 for a single week in 1999 on the R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. As such, the judge says the song may have been heard by Usher because it was available through “wide dissemination.”

In papers to the court on Friday, Usher’s camp attacks these theories. Usher says there was no attempt by the court to show access by anybody who had responsibility over “Burn,” as Warren G played no role in the song’s creation.

As for “wide dissemination,” the defendants attempt to school the judge on the fact that an album isn’t a song. The plaintiff’s song, it’s pointed out, was a “random and unproven song buried on an album.” Further, they show the song got played on the radio around the nation just three times, twice in Chattanooga, Tennessee and once in Denver.

“The fact that the song had virtually no radio airplay forecloses any inference that it was widely disseminated, let alone remotely popular,” say the defendants to the judge.

Judge Snyder now gets to decide whether to take these arguments and backtrack. Otherwise, this will be the rare song theft case that goes before a jury.

Written by DJ Cisco

Thursday, December 17, 2009 – BlackVibes.com

Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Decade list names “We Belong Together” number 1, “Be Without You” the top R&B song of the decade and Usher Raymond the number one Hot 100 Artist of the Decade.

Jermaine Dupri, Bryan-Michael Cox, and Johntá Austin, Multiple Grammy Award winning Producers and Artist, make Billboard’s “Hot 100 Songs of the Decade List”, “Top 200 Artist of the Decade List”, “Hot R&B Song of the Decade List” and “Top 200 Albums of the Decade List”, through their work with Mariah Carey, Usher and Mary J. Blige.

“We Belong Together”, “U Got It Bad”, “Burn”, and “My Boo” are number 1, 15, 26 and 36 respectively on Billboards Hot 100 Songs of the Decade and Usher Raymond was also awarded the top spot on the Hot 100 Artist of the Decade as well as ranking #2 for the Artist of the Decade. Raymonds album “Confessions” was awarded the #2 Album of the Decade.

The #1 song, “We Belong Together”, produced and written by Jermaine Dupri, Johntá Austin, Mariah Carey and Manuel Seal, was a crossover success receiving two Grammy’s at the 2006 Grammy Awards, three Billboard Music Awards, two Radio Music Awards, and over two million in sales. The top R&B song of the decade, “Be Without You” written and produced by Bryan-Michael Cox along with Mary J. Blige received a Grammy and posted #1 on the R&B Charts for a record 13 weeks.

Usher Raymond was also mentioned on Billboard’s “Hot 100 songs of Decade” with “U Got it Bad”, produced by Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox, “Burn”, written and produced by Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox, and “My Boo”, produced by Jermaine Dupri with writing credits from both Usher and Dupri.

“We are pleased with the continued recognition for our hard work and dedication to music,” said Bryan-Michael Cox, Jermaine Dupri, and Johntá Austin. “We would like to thank Billboard for acknowledging our work throughout the years.”

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U Got It Bad

Usher

All About U

December 15, 2001

#1 Burn

Usher

Confessions

May 22, 2004

#1 Confessions Part II

Usher

Confessions

July 24, 2004

#1 My Boo

Usher And Alicia Keys

Confessions [Bonus Tracks]

October 30, 2004

Nice & Slow

Usher

#2 You Make Me Wanna…

February 14, 1998

#2 You Make Me Wanna…

Usher

You Make Me Wanna…

October 25, 1997

#2 My Way

Usher

You Make Me Wanna…

August 15, 1998

USHER ” U MAKE ME WANNNA”