Songwriter Testifies in Suit Against Wonder

A songwriter who has accused pop icon Stevie Wonder of stealing the song “I Just Called to Say I Love You” from him testified Monday that no one in the record industry would “touch me with a 10-foot pole” since he sued Wonder in 1985.

On the third day of his $25-million copyright infringement suit against Wonder, songwriter Lloyd Chiate, 40, said in response to a question from his lawyer, Herbert Dodell, he has had trouble selling songs in recent years.

Chiate said he first wrote the song that is at the center of the suit in 1976, but didn’t register it until 1979. “We were just lazy,” he said, referring to himself and his partner, Lee Garrett, who also was a plaintiff in the suit but dropped out of the case in 1986.

In his opening statement, Dodell said that Garrett, an old friend of Wonder’s, played a tape of the song for Wonder in 1977, after Wonder stopped a depressed Garrett from committing suicide.

The title of the song that they registered was “I Just Called to Say.” A tape of Chiate’s version was played in court Monday:

“Hello, it’s me,” went the opening of the song.

“I just called to say you’re on my mind. I just called to say I love you. I just called to say I care . . .” the song continued as a six-member jury and U.S. District Judge David W. Williams listened.

“I wrote the chorus; I wrote the words; I wrote the chords,” Chiate testified.

Wonder, 39, testified last week that he actually started writing the song in 1976 but did not complete it until 1984. He said that he frequently works on songs for years before finishing them. A tape of his first version also was played for the jury last week.

Chiate said that when he first heard Wonder’s song on the radio in 1984, he thought to himself, “Oh, great! I have a cover,” record industry jargon for a song redone with permission by another artist.

However, when Chiate went to buy a copy of Wonder’s record he discovered that his name was not on the record. “I was quite upset,” Chiate said.

When he called Wonder to find out why he had not been credited, Wonder told him it was his (Wonder’s) song, Chiate testified. Chiate later sued for copyright infringement.

Chiate is a successful songwriter in his own right, having written for the Fifth Dimension, Billy Davis Jr., Marilyn McCoo, Eddie Money and Wonder himself. Wonder, wearing a bright red sports jacket and a black shirt, was in the courtroom as Chiate testified.

Garrett, Chiate’s partner, gave Wonder a license to use “I Just Want to Say” in return for money and musical equipment, Dodell said in his opening statement last week. Garrett is expected to testify for Wonder later in the trial.

“I Just Called To Say I Love You,” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1985, after it had been featured in the movie “The Woman in Red.” Chiate also has sued Orion Pictures Inc., which released the film and several other defendants including GTE, which used the song in a television commercial.

The case has had a winding history. In 1986, shortly after Garrett dropped out of the suit, Judge Williams dismissed the action on the grounds that Wonder had a license to use the song. However, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Williams. The appellate court said the license might not be a valid defense if it was given to destroy the value of the song’s copyright.