MADRID, Spain (AFP) — A Madrid court will look into allegations that Colombian superstars Shakira and Carlos Vives plagiarized part of their hugely popular Grammy Latino-winner “La Bicicleta”, a court spokesman said Thursday.
Music publisher MDRB filed a complaint in a commercial court in Madrid on behalf of Livan Rafael Castellanos, a Cuban singer known as Livam who alleges that the catchy tune copies parts of his own 1997 song called “Yo te quiero tanto” (I love you so).
The complaint centres around an intellectual property problem, said the court spokesman.
More specifically, it focuses on the songs’ choruses, he added — both the melody and the lyrics.
Shakira and Vives sing “que te sueno y que te quiero tanto” (I dream of you and love you so much), while Livam says “yo te quiero, yo te quiero tanto” (I love you, I love you so much).
The court spokesman said the complaint was against Vives and Shakira — who lives in Spain — as well as producer Andres Castro and Sony Music.
This is not the first time that Shakira has come up against allegations of plagiarism.
In 2014, a US judge ruled that her 2010 hit song “Loca” was an illegal copy of a tune written by Dominican singer and composer Ramon Arias Vasquez, known as Arias.
Shakira’s spokespeople refused to comment when contacted by AFP.
© Agence France-Presse
