Satriani sues Coldplay

Guitarist Joe Satriani has sued Coldplay for allegedly copying his 2004 track ”˜If I Could Fly’ for their Grammy-nominated ”˜Viva la Vida.’ In the copyright infringement suit filed on December 4 in an LA court, Satriani accuses Coldplay of lifting “substantial original portions,” and seeks “any and all profits attributable to the alleged copyright infringement,” in addition to damages. In an interview to Music Radar, the guitarist said, “I did everything I could to avoid a court case with this situation. But Coldplay didn’t want to talk about it. They just wanted this whole thing to go away. Maybe they figured this little guitar player guy will leave them alone after a while, I don’t know.”

Coldplay responded with a brief statement on their website which said that “if there are any similarities between our two pieces of music, they are entirely coincidental, and just as surprising to us as to [Satriani].”