Satriani vs Coldplay: what do lawyers say?

What could happen if case went to court?

Michael Leonard and Joe Bosso, Thu 11 Dec 2008, 4:46 pm UTC

Will Coldplay settle out of court?

Joe Satriani's suing of Coldplay has become one of the hot topics of late 2008. And it doesn't look like it's going away soon.

The latest addition to the online debate is a fine article on the Idolator website where their 'Idolawyer' (clever, yes?) muses on how the case might pan out in court.

You'll have to put aside any prejudice of whose music is 'better' to appreciate this case, but the potential scenarios are interesting.

Idolator's lawyer writes:
"Assuming that Joe and his publisher legitimately own the copyright to If I Could Fly, assuming the song meets the minimal criteria for originality (a given), and further assuming that he has no direct evidence of infringement, the court will apply the following two-step inquiry:

1. Whether the defendant had access to the plaintiff's song prior to creation of Viva La Vida.
2. Whether the work of the alleged infringer is substantially similar to If I Could Fly."

Given that Satriani's Is There Love In Space? album was released worldwide by Sony Music, Satriani's team should have no problem on point 1. As for point 2, a court case could result in an audience test, where a jury will decide if the songs are "substantially similar".

A court case could result in an audience test, where a jury will decide if the songs are "substantially similar"

Idolator's lawyer continues:
"The audience test is comparable to the "reasonable person" test in tort law - it relies on the spontaneous and visceral reaction of the typical audience for the works at issue. If the audience detects similarity without suggestion, then the works are likely substantially similar.

null

"The audience test has been criticized, and the various circuits have unique formulations of the test. Courts also often allow consideration of expert testimony such as analysis by musical experts. The substantial similarity analysis often includes a value judgment, which is a determination of whether the value of the original work is harmed or the labors of the original author are appropriate by the infringer."

And then, the court will have to identify an "intended audience".

Now, will those be people who know something about music theory? Or people who, in fact, know nothing about theory or even Joe Satriani or Coldplay? (Which could be hard, given the latter's fame.)

"This is really about publishers"

MusicRadar spoke with renowned business attorney Ronald S Bienstock, who has represented Joe Satriani in the past on other matters.

Go to page:12 Next »

print
e-mail

Share:: StumbleUpon; Digg; Reddit; Del.icio.us; Facebook

User comments (5)

afterglow08

34 weeks ago.

i agree with theosu809. If you arent tone deaf or daft, its quite apparent that these songs are VERY similar in all three elements of music composition, Melody, rythm, and harmony. You just said it, alexcorreia, that pretty much most blues songs sound the same...that only means that the genre 'blues' has apparently had the ability to do so since its birth. If someone was to now say, "OK, i wrote the first blues song let me collect royalties on EVERY blues tune ever written after mine", people would refer him to a loony bin.
Its not just the chord progression thats similar...its the way the rythm and melody are played behind and over the progression, respectively. Ummm yeah, you should probably know that if you're claiming to "play" guitar. each note over every chord change infront of every rythm hit can be perciesely segmented and analyzed throughout each song. I'm not saying they are exaclty the same at every fraction of every second. I will say though that the chances of one man...two years after the other, putting out a recording that contains a suspiciously similar melody, rythm and harmony overlap are well...highly questionable! its even at the same tempo in the same key for god sake. That pretty much puts the cherry on top. I personally wouldnt believe it if Chris Martin said he's never heard the satriani song before the completion of viva la vida. Yes, theosu809, coldplay should go down hard. Satriani wrote that he was hurt by the theft of a tune he had worked on for years and the second he heard it...he knew what had to be done. How true that is...nobody will really know accept him. However, he has ALOT more goin for him than coldplay does with regards to the conclusion of this issue.

Mark as inappropriate
Marius92

37 weeks ago.

come on dude.. are you retarded or what? did you even read what satriani said?

Mark as inappropriate
alexcorreia

43 weeks ago.

Joe Satriani has always been a great influence on my playing. He's always been a low profile kind of guy and I liked that. I really don't understand what's this all about. I agree there are a few simliar phrases here and there but that doesn't make it the same. I'm sure there are millions of songs with that same chord progression.
Take blues music for instance. It's pretty much the same chord progression over 12 bars most of the time. The lead guitar is always based around the same licks. Should the oldest blues player sue everybody for plagiarism?
This is probably just free publicity for Joe. Is he that desperate for attention?
I could say that Joe plagiarized Akon's Lonely on a Super Colossal song I can't remember the name. Check it out if you got the album.

Mark as inappropriate
theosu809

45 weeks ago.

what makes him a jerk? if i were a talented guitarist like satriani, i wouldnt want someone popularizing my music to teenage girls. thats obviously not what his music is written for. i hope coldplay goes down hard.

Mark as inappropriate
whitewingserpent

45 weeks ago.

Before I thought this dude was a pretty good guitar player. Now I just think he is a jerk.

Mark as inappropriate

You need to be logged in to post a comment. Login or Register to post a comment.

MusicRadar