La Bicicleta not original? Shakira, Carlos Vives accused of plagiarism

Celebrity singers Shakira and Carlos Vives have been accused by a Cuban singer of plagiarising his song and using it their hugely popular Grammy Latino-winning song La Bicicleta.

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 has alleged that the catchy tune copies parts of his own 1997 song called “Yo te quiero tanto” (I love you so).

Watch Shakira’s La Bicicleta:

The complaint centres around an intellectual property problem, said the court spokesman on Thursday. More specifically, it focuses on the song’s 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, Shakira (who lives in Spain), producer Andres Castro and Sony Music.

Watch Yo Te Quiero Tanto by Livan Rafael Castellanos

This is not the first time that Shakira has been accused of plagiarism. In 2014, an American 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 has refused to comment on the allegations.