This month’s blog revisits the pending lawsuit filed by Joe Satriani against Coldplay for copyright infringement.  Some background in copyright law is necessary to evaluate the merits of Satriani’s case.  Let’s start with the basics of copyright law.

Under Section 106 of the Copyright Act,  copyright owners are granted certain exclusive rights.  A copyright owner has the right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display or prepare derivative works.  A claim for copyright infringement arises under Section 501 of the Act when someone violates the owner’s exclusive rights.  In order to prove a claim of copyright infringement, the copyright owner must prove two things: ownership of the copyright and proof that defendant copied the work. 

Ownership can be proven by providing a copy of the registration on file with the Copyright Office.  Proof of actual copying is very difficult to prove unless you are a fly on the wall in the musician’s rehearsal studio.  Courts recognize that eyewitness testimony rarely exists.  Thus, in order to prove that copying occurred, a plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant had access to the work and that there are substantial similarities between the two works.  This legal analysis will be the crux of Satriani’s case. More...

Joe Satriani has accused the band Coldplay of copying his song in a pending lawsuit filed last year.  Satriani says that Coldplay’s song “Viva La Vida” borrows substantially from his song “If I Could Fly.”  “Viva La Vida” won a Grammy for Song of the Year for 2008. Satriani’s song, released in 2004 was intended as a love letter to his wife and reportedly took him ten years to write.

Satriani is a Grammy nominated guitarist that has released a dozen solo albums selling in excess of ten million copies.  Dubbed “Satch” by his fans, he has played with several rock legends including Mick Jagger, Sammy Hagar and Alice Cooper.  Just in case you have been living under a rock, Coldplay is a British alternative rock band that has produced four major label albums and won seven Grammy awards.  They have sold in excess of 50 million records.  They have eschewed endorsement and licensing deals (with the exception of an iTunes commercial) and to their credit, Coldplay claims they give 10% of their profits to charity. 

Satriani says it was his fans that brought the songs’ similarities to his attention.  After Coldplay’s latest record was released, Satriani’s inbox was flooded with emails telling him he was being “ripped off”.  He said: “The second I heard, I knew…I felt like a dagger went through my heart.”  And Satriani is not the only one who feels cheated.  Cat Stevens claims that Coldplay infringed his song “Foreigner Suite”.  And it doesn’t stop there.  Creaky Boards, an indie rock band from New York, claim “Viva La Vida” is a ripoff of their song, “The Songs I Didn’t Write”.  Cat Stevens says he will wait and see how Satriani’s lawsuit plays out before taking any action.  Creaky Boards seem to have relished the publicity their band is getting.  After all, being compared to Coldplay can’t be such a bad thing for a relatively unknown band from Brooklyn. More...