Coldplay hit back at claims of plagiarism

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Coldplay has hit back at claims the band plagiarised another artist's work for their hit single Viva La Vida.

The Brit group were accused by Joe Satriani last week of copyright infringement, after the guitarist claimed the Grammy-nominated song contained 'substantial, original portions' of his 2004 song, If I Could Fly.

After a lawsuit was launched against Chris Martin and the rest of his band, the singer said he felt compelled to respond publicly to the accusations.

In a statement, Martin said: 'With the greatest possible respect to Joe Satriani, we have now unfortunately found it necessary to respond publicly to his allegations.'

He added: 'If there are any similarities between our two pieces of music, they are entirely coincidental, and just as surprising to us as to him. Joe Satriani is a great musician, but he did not write the song Viva La Vida. We respectfully ask him to accept our assurances of this and wish him well with all future endeavours.'

However, Satriani refuses to let the matter drop and is demanding a federal judge to order an accounting to evaluate how much money he is owed, or otherwise stop using the song.

Satriani's lawyer, Howard E. King responded to the statement saying: 'We attempted to have a dialogue on this before we went public. We felt almost forced to file suit.'

He continued: 'As far as the 'coincidence,' ultimately that's for a jury to decide.'

Did Coldplay plagiarise Satriani's song? Someone with a lot of time on their hands has created this YouTube clip to help you decide:

Wednesday 10 December 2008

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Geez louise-- who could dispute that its a complete rip off??? They both sound the same!!!!!!!!
Comment by Hotplay on December 10 15:02

I've always hated Coldplay and always been a fan of Joe Satriani. I thought I'd heard Viva la Vida before.
Comment by IbanezLewis on December 10 18:18

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