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Legal
Coldplay deny pilfering Satriani song
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 7 April 2009
Coldplay have formally denied those claims by guitarist bloke Joe Satriani that they stole “substantial original portions” of his song ‘If I Could Fly’ for the title track of their last album, ‘Viva La Vida’.
In papers filed at a US federal court, the band said that Satriani’s song “lacks originality” anyway, which is why there may be some coincidental similarities between their two tracks, and that because of that the guitarist should not receive any compensation. This presumably means that Coldplay think their song lacks originality too, but to be fair to them, they have said that about their music before, and even point to songs they have borrowed from on a fairly regular basis.
Satriani’s lawyer Howard E King said that Coldplay’s response was typical for this type of case, adding that the matter could have been settled out of court had the band not been so resolute that the guitarist doesn’t have a claim. King will now push for a jury trial, with a bid to winning all profits from Coldplay’s song plus damages.
