Coldplay Sued By Joe Satriani For Allegedly Plagiarizing 'Viva La Vida' Melody
Guitarist claims the Grammy-nominated song is a rip-off of his track 'If I Could Fly.'



Not long after Coldplay's Viva la Vida album hit shelves this summer, the blogosphere exploded with suggestions that the title track bore a striking resemblance to a 2004 instrumental track by rock guitarist Joe Satriani titled "If I Could Fly."
Now, Satriani has accused the band of copyright infringement in a lawsuit filed on Thursday in Los Angeles federal court, according to a Reuters report.

A day after the Coldplay album was nominated for seven Grammys, including Record and Song of the Year for "Viva la Vida," Satriani's suit claims that "Viva" incorporates "substantial original portions" of his track "If I Could Fly," from the Is There Love in Space? album.


read on here...
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1600770/20081205/coldplay.jhtml

12/11/2008 2:19:12 PM

I do not care about this.....at all

12/11/2008 2:20:06 PM

this is older than old

12/11/2008 2:21:21 PM

oldoldoldoldoldoldodl

12/11/2008 2:21:33 PM

What does Warren Zevon and Lynyrd Skynyrd think of this?

12/11/2008 2:22:39 PM

^just because some artists don't sue for infringement doesn't mean that no artist has the right to

if they didn't pay him to sample it, or ask for his permission to use something of his the he has every right to sue

12/11/2008 2:25:05 PM

12/11/2008 2:27:15 PM

FACT: They should've been sued by U2 forever ago.

12/11/2008 2:31:44 PM

^^^^ warren and lynyrd are probably thinking "Man it's dark and quiet down here...."

[Edited on December 11, 2008 at 2:32 PM. Reason : ]

12/11/2008 2:31:58 PM

i will always side with Satch

12/11/2008 3:25:24 PM

Satriani just made that song better when the guy spliced them together

12/11/2008 3:43:06 PM

i will always side with satch

12/11/2008 3:51:18 PM

One overrated musical act, sues another

I'm Big Business and i approved this message.

12/11/2008 3:53:15 PM

There sounds like there's some inspiration there, but isn't that the nature of the music biz? How many different catchy melodies can there really be?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM

12/11/2008 3:58:39 PM

yeah i'm sure none of satriani's music sounds like anything that he was ever inspired by.

I'm Big Business and i approved this message.

12/11/2008 3:59:29 PM

this really isn't how art should work

12/11/2008 4:03:11 PM

12/11/2008 6:27:26 PM

i will always side with Satch

12/11/2008 6:27:41 PM

nearly every song has been written over and over again

12/11/2008 6:34:46 PM

I'll side with pretty much anyone over Coldplay

12/11/2008 6:35:07 PM

^^ this is patently false

12/11/2008 6:35:17 PM

Copyright is fundamentally flawed. The intellectual property bubble will pop. Hopefully america will survive.

^et tu brute?

12/11/2008 6:36:21 PM

i think there's a difference between influence and stealing. i don't know how i feel about this instance yet.

12/11/2008 6:37:05 PM

i cut together "since u been gone" and "maps" last night and everyone had a mini flip-out

'twas good times

12/11/2008 6:38:14 PM

Quote :

"FACT: They should've been sued by U2 forever ago."

lawl

12/11/2008 6:38:17 PM

The lawsuit can't possibly be valid. It's based on the premise that someone actually listened to a recent Joe Satriani album.

12/11/2008 6:39:01 PM

what about nickelback? they rewrite their own songs. does that count?

12/11/2008 6:39:12 PM

^fucking WINNER

12/11/2008 6:40:05 PM

Quote :

"what about nickelback? they rewrite their own songs. does that count?"

they stole that shit from 311

12/11/2008 6:41:16 PM

COME ORIGINAL

12/11/2008 6:41:35 PM

sounding the same and actually being the same are two different things.

12/11/2008 6:41:55 PM

I'm pretty sure artists have been sued for infringing on their own earlier work.

12/11/2008 6:44:43 PM

^ john fogerty

12/11/2008 6:45:13 PM

kurt cobain was actually.. ended up being innocent.

12/11/2008 6:45:20 PM

that reminds me

i never saw last days

12/11/2008 6:47:41 PM

Quote :

"Copyright is fundamentally flawed. The intellectual property bubble will pop. Hopefully america will survive."

Word.

12/11/2008 6:52:14 PM

Quote :

"this really isn't how art should work "

part of me agrees with this

but then there's my raging capitalist side

and even more importantly, my side that likes to see good things happen to Satriani and bad things happen to Coldplay.

12/11/2008 7:31:48 PM

i concur with the duke on all counts

especially wanting good things to happen to satriani and bad things to happen to coldplay

12/11/2008 7:35:52 PM

Quote :

"and even more importantly, my side that likes to see good things happen to Satriani and bad things happen to Coldplay."

12/11/2008 7:39:07 PM

Hey chembob.

12/11/2008 7:40:09 PM

satriani > coldplay

That being said, many capitalists oppose intellectual property, similar to how they oppose slavery.

12/11/2008 7:47:34 PM

Quote :

"and even more importantly, my side that likes to see good things happen to Satriani and bad things happen to Coldplay."

12/11/2008 8:39:34 PM

I like slavery

12/11/2008 8:40:03 PM

never heard of Satriani, so....not caring.

12/11/2008 8:44:39 PM

he's pretty good, i have one of his cd's

12/11/2008 8:45:10 PM

Quote :

"never heard of Satriani, so....not caring. "

dude

what is wrong with you.

he's an incredible guitar player. download some of his stuff

12/11/2008 8:47:52 PM

he's an incredible technical guitar player

and wholly boring

12/11/2008 8:49:21 PM

12/11/2008 8:56:17 PM

anyone have that video that has the two nicklback songs playing in the left and right channel to show they are the same? i cant find it

12/11/2008 8:58:40 PM

almost

[Edited on December 11, 2008 at 8:59 PM. Reason : asdf]

12/11/2008 8:59:22 PM