Marc Anthony Sued Over Hit Song
April 10 -- A little-known songwriter filed a lawsuit in New York last week, claiming that Marc Anthony's biggest Stateside hit, "I Need to Know," includes "wrongful use of plaintiff's copyrighted music, lyrics, and arrangement."
Songwriter Daniel Agren says he copyrighted a song of the same name in June 1989. His suit names Sony Music Entertainment, Sony/ATV Tunes, and producer Cory Rooney.
Anthony's lawyer, Orin Snyder, told The Associated Press that the lawsuit was groundless and that Anthony was seeking to have it dismissed.
"Marc Anthony and Cory Rooney wrote 'I Need to Know.' It is their song and no one else's," he told the AP. "It's yet another example of where there's a hit, you often find an opportunistic lawsuit. Unfortunately, sometimes it goes with the territory."
"I Need to Know" was the most popular single from Anthony's self-titled debut in 1999. The song reached No. 3 on the Billboard pop charts and won the Song of the Year prize at last year's Latin Grammy Awards.
The lawsuit isn't slowing the popular singer's output — he recently told Wall of Sound that he's preparing an English-language and Spanish-language album for simultaneous release in June. Anthony will also appear later this year in the feature film In the Time of Butterflies.
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