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List of songs subject to plagiarism disputes

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Songs involved in plagiarism disputes, The following is a list of songs that have been the subject of plagiarism disputes. In several of the disputes the artists have stated that the copying of melody or chord progression was unconscious. In some cases the song was sampled. Some cases are still awaiting litigation.

Year Original song Original artist Second song Second artist Judgement Ref.
1970 He's So Fine (1963) Ronnie Mack My Sweet Lord George Harrison $1,599,987 to Bright Tune [1][2]
1970s Crescent City Blues (1953) Gordon Jenkins Folsom Prison Blues (1955) Johnny Cash $75,000 [1][2][3]
1984 I want a New Drug Huey Lewis and the News Ghostbusters Ray Parker Junior Settled non-disclosure agreement [4]
1985 You Need Loving (1966) Small Faces Whole Lotta Love (1969) Led Zeppelin settled out of court for an undisclosed amount [5]
1993 I’d Do) Anything For You (1989) Jon Dunmore Sinclair I’d Do Anything For Love (1993) Meat Loaf Undisclosed settlement [6]
1993 Under Pressure (1981) Queen and David Bowie Ice Ice Baby (1989) Vanilla Ice Undisclosed amount and songwriting credit [7]
1994 Love Is a Wonderful Thing (1964) The Isley Brothers Love is a Wonderful Thing (1991) Michael Bolton Under the Ninth Circuit ruling, the Isleys were to be paid $4.2 million [8]
1999 The Last Time (1965) The Rolling Stones Bitter Sweet Symphony (1997) The Verve Songwriting credit and royalties [9][10][11]
2008 Taj Mahal (1969) Jorge Ben Jor Da Ya Think I'm Sexy? (1978) Rod Stewart The case was "settled amicably" [12]
2010 I'm Not Alone (2009) Calvin Harris Yeah 3x (2010) Chris Brown Songwriting credits [13]
2010 Kookaburra (song) (1932) Marion Sinclair Down Under Men at Work 5 per cent of royalties backdated to 2002 [14]
2011 Dazed and Confused (1967) Jake Holmes Dazed and Confused (1969) Led Zeppelin undisclosed settlement out of court [15]
2012 Got to Give It Up (1977) Marvin Gaye Blurred Lines Robin Thicke $5.3 million and songwriting credit [16]
2014 All Day and All of the Night (1964) The Kinks Hello, I Love You The Doors undisclosed settlement out of court [17]
2015 I Won't Back Down (1989) Tom Petty Stay With Me (2014) Sam Smith 12.5% songwriting credit [18]
2015 Oops Up Side Your Head (1979) The Gap Band Uptown Funk (2014) Bruno Mars 17% royalties and songwriting credit [19][20]
2016 Taurus (1968) Spirit Stairway to Heaven (1971) Led Zeppelin Litigated; not settled; set to return to the District Court [21]
2017 Amazing Tom Leonard, Martin Harrington, Ash Howes, Richard Stannard Photograph (2015) Ed Sheeran The lawsuit was privately settled in April 2017 [22]
2018 Seven Nation Army (2003) Jack White Toy Guy Pines Songwriting credit and royalties [23][24][25]
2018 The Air That I Breathe (1972) Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood Creep Radiohead Songwriting credit and royalties [26]
2018 Let's Get It On (1973) Marvin Gaye Thinking Out Loud (2014) Ed Sheeran Litigated; not settled [27]
2019 Joyful Noise (2008) Da' T.R.U.T.H. Dark Horse (2013) Katy Perry $2.78 million and songwriting credit [28]

References

  1. ^ a b George Harrison, "My Sweet Lord" (460), Rolling Stone online (retrieved 17 September 2012).
  2. ^ a b Hutchinson, Lydia. "George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" Copyright Case". performingsongwriter. Performing Songwriter Ent., LLC. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  3. ^ Streissguth, Michael (2004). Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: The Making of a Masterpiece. Da Capo Press. pp. 19–21. ISBN 0-306-81338-6.
  4. ^ Vanhorn, Teri (March 23, 2001). "Ray Parker Jr. Suing Huey Lewis Over 'Ghostbusters' Comment". MTV News. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  5. ^ Lewis, Dave (1994). The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin. Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-3528-9.
  6. ^ KIELTY, MARTIN. "Meat Loaf Settles lawsuit". ultimateclassicrock. Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  7. ^ Runtagh, Jordan (June 8, 2016). "Songs on Trial: 10 Landmark Music Copyright Cases" > "Vanilla Ice vs. Queen and David Bowie (1990)". rollingstone.com. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
  8. ^ Three Boys Music v. Michael Bolton 212 F.3d 477 (9th Cir.2000)
  9. ^ "The Verve: Bitter Sweet Symphony". allmusic. Rovi Corp. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  10. ^ "Bitter Sweet Symphony: the controversy". www.thevervelive.com. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  11. ^ Superswell.com: "Horror Stories of Sampling" Archived 5 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Interview with Ben Jor Archived 15 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine Expatica.com
  13. ^ "Calvin Harris and Chris Brown make up after song row". BBC Radio 1. BBC. August 25, 2011. Retrieved August 30, 2011.
  14. ^ Associated Press in Sydney (7 October 2011). "Men at Work lose appeal over Kookaburra riff". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  15. ^ Gee, Federal Judge Dolly (January 17, 2012). "Order Dismissing Action With Prejudice". Justia.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 1, 2012. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  16. ^ Sicario, Ben (March 21, 2018). "'Blurred Lines' Verdict Upheld by Appeals Court". The New York Times. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  17. ^ Torres, Libby. "The Doors' "Hello, I Love You" features a riff similar to one in the Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night."". Insider.com. Insider Inc. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  18. ^ "Sam Smith: Tom Petty given writing credit for Stay with Me". BBC News. 27 January 2015.
  19. ^ Christman, Ed (1 May 2015). "'Uptown Funk!' Gains More Writers After Gap Band's Legal Claim". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2 May 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  20. ^ Christman, Ed (1 May 2015). "Inside the New Royalty Split for 'Uptown Funk': Who Gets Paid What". Billboard. Archived from the original on 6 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  21. ^ "Led Zeppelin to face new Stairway to Heaven trial". BBC News. September 28, 2018. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  22. ^ Ellis-Petersen, Hannah. "Ed Sheeran may regret Photograph that led to $20m copyright case". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  23. ^ "Jack White of The White Stripes gets writing credit for 'Toy' - Israel News - Jerusalem Post". The Jerusalem Post. 7 February 2019.
  24. ^ "White Stripes' Jack White gets writing credit for Israel's Eurovision hit 'Toy'". i24NEWS. 7 February 2019.
  25. ^ "White Stripes frontman Jack White now listed as composer of "Toy"". wiwibloggs. 7 February 2019.
  26. ^ Reporters, Telegraph (2018-01-08). "Lana Del Rey sued by Radiohead for allegedly copying Creep". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
  27. ^ "Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud" is said to plagiarize Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On."". Insider.com. Insider Inc. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  28. ^ "Katy Perry among those ordered to pay a total of $2.78M in song copying lawsuit". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. August 1, 2019. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
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