Songwriter Says Legend Stole His Song
4:15PM ET July 7th, 2011
Contributor : Stephen Willis
A Rocky Williform Company

Singer/songwriter John Legend and Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music label are facing a lawsuit by aspiring songwriter Anthony Stokes. Stokes alleges that John Legend’s track “Maxine’s Interlude,” was lifted from his recording “Where Are You Now.”

Stokes filed the suit in U.S. District Court, in the District of New Jersey.

According to the suit, Stokes wrote the song when he was a student at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, registering it with the United States Copyright Office in October 2004. But before he registered the copyright, Stokes says he attended a John Legend concert at the university. Afterwards, Stokes says he met Legend and gave the singer a demo of “Where Are You Now” and Stokes’ contact information.

According to AllHipHop, Stokes now claims that John Legend stole the majority of the song and used it for “Maxine’s Interlude” from his 2006 album Once Again.

“A key similarity is at 1:29 minutes, where Legend sings “where are you now” similarly to Stokes’s singing of the catchphrase throughout the course of the original ‘Where Are You Now,’” Stokes’ lawyer Louis Tambaro said. “Also, like in Stokes’ ‘Where are You Now,’ in ‘Maxine’s Interlude,’ Legend cuts off the ‘now’ after the first recital, while background vocalists sing the full phrase ‘where are you now’ on the refrain.”

John Legend, G.O.O.D. Music and Sony Records are being sued for copyright infringement and unjust enrichment.