The common practice of borrowing or sampling from old songs has made distinguishing instances of plagiarism in music much more difficult. The term generally refers to the unauthorized use or close imitation of the work of another individual.
Famous Lawsuits
- 1971: George Harrison successfully sued due to similarities between his song "My Sweet Lord" and "He's So Fine" by The Chiffons
- 1976: John Lennon was sued by Chuck Berry's music publisher Morris Levy for borrowing a line from Berry's "You Can't Catch Me" for his song "Come Together"
- 1993: Killing Joke sued Nirvana for using the riff to their song "Eighties" in the latter's song "Come as You Are"
- 1994: John Fogerty unsuccessfully sued for plagiarizing himself
- 2007: Hip-Hop producer Timbaland accused of stealing from Nelly Furtado
Question for Coldplay: How do you explain all of the plagiarism claims? (Satriani, some other band, and now Cat Stevens)(1 Answer)
A:
There are a couple of problems with the plagiarism claim (which were addressed by Chris Martin and Coldplay). First, the band alleged that Chris Martin (the frontman for ...
Cat Stevens says Coldplay stole his song. What are your thoughts on the "Viva La Vida" plagiarism scandal?(1 Answer)
A:
My thoughts are yes, it does seem to have similar chord structure, but I think it's still too different from the original to call it plagiarism. Notice ...
Like to know if the 2nd track is Plagiarism of:
http://www.spike.com/video/love-song-k-os/2649272
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeuXkU06-6c(1 Answer)
A:
There is a bit of similarity between the 2 songs, but not nearly enough to be considered plagiarism in my opinion. If they sound similar, it is purely ...
