4 Musicians Who Lost Thousands in Plagiarism Cases
Even some of the most accomplished musicians of all time have found themselves at the center of plagiarism cases. Sometimes, they get off without any trouble; juries determine that the song simply uses common chord progressions or that there are no real similarities. Other times, though, musicians pay a lot of money to settle the cases. Here are four musicians who lost money in plagiarism cases.
George Harrison
One of the most notable plagiarism cases involved one of the biggest musicians of all time. George Harrison was fresh off his time with The Beatles when he released “My Sweet Lord.” The song made him the first former Beatle to hit No. 1 as a solo artist. It also brought him legal trouble.
The Bright Tunes Music Corporation brought a lawsuit against Harrison for plagiarizing The Chiffons’ song “He’s So Fine.” After a lengthy legal battle, a judge determined that Harrison subconsciously copied the song.
“It is clear that ‘My Sweet Lord’ is the very same song as ‘He’s So Fine,'” the judge ruled, per The New York Times. “This is, under the law infringement of copyright and is no less so even though subconsciously accomplished.”
In 1981, Harrison was ordered to pay $587,000.
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips’ 2003 song “Fight Test” landed the band in legal trouble due to notable similarities with the 1970 Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) song “Father and Son.” The Flaming Lips’ singer Wayne Coyne acknowledged the similarities between the songs but said they were unintentional. Still, a court ruled that the band split royalties with Islam.
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin recently won a legal victory in a battle over “Stairway to Heaven,” but they’ve faced accusations of copying far more than this song. They covered “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” in 1969 after becoming fans of Joan Baez’s version. Per Rolling Stone, they credited the song as traditional without realizing folk singer Anne Bredon wrote it. When she realized they covered it, she agreed to split royalties with the band.
“The Lemon Song” and “Bring It On Home” on Led Zeppelin’s sophomore album once again landed them in legal trouble. Chess Records sued the band in 1972 for borrowing heavily from the Willie Dixon song “Bring It On Home” and the Howlin’ Wolf song “Killing Floor.” The band gave Dixon credit and gave Howlin’ Wolf a royalty check for $45,123.
They crossed paths with Dixon again in 1985 when he accused them of stealing from the song “You Need Love” for their song “Whole Lotta Love.” They settled out of court in Dixon’s favor.
The Beach Boys
When The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson wrote “Surfin’ USA,” one of the band’s most enduring hits, he set out to pay homage to Chuck Berry.
“I just took ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’ and rewrote it into something of our own,” he said, per the LA Times.
Berry’s lawyers didn’t see it as a nice tribute, though. They contended that Wilson had plagiarized the song. With the threat of a lawsuit looming, the band signed over the writing credit and publishing royalties to Berry. His publisher, Arc Music, took the publishing rights.
