October 2009
Guns N' Roses Sued for $1 million in Copyright Infringement Claim
Guns N’ Roses and their record label Geffen (part of Universal Music Group) are being sued for over $1 million (£630,000) for copyright infringement by electro musician Ulrich Schnauss.
Lawyers representing Schnauss, his UK label Independiente and the US wing of Domino Records have filed a lawsuit in the US claiming that the Guns N’ Roses track Raid N’ the Bedouins off their latest album Chinese Democracy samples substantial aspects of Schnauss’ works Wherever You Are (2001) and A Strangely Isolated Place (2003). The Chinese Democracy album has sold over 3.2 million copies world-wide which explains the amount of compensation Schnauss is claiming.
As with the Joe Satrianni copyright infringement claim filed against Coldplay (which was settled out of court last month) it is reported that the similarities of the Guns N’ Roses track and Schnauss’ works were picked up immediately by fans, one Schnauss fan posting a message on an online forum within 24 hours of the release of Chinese Democracy.
In turn should the claim proceed to trial and the Court be presented with a Guns N’ Roses track that does in fact consist of substantial similarities to Schnauss’ works it is likely the Court will rule that Guns N’ Roses copied such works, as proving the contrary to a Judge in such circumstances is near impossible.
BRIFFA Comment
Given the reported similarities it will be interesting to see whether Guns N’ Roses allows such claim to proceed to trial. However, the Chinese Democracy album has been in development for the last decade and there are some suggestions that the Guns N’ Roses track may even predate Schnauss’ works which would provide good cause for them to challenge the claim.
Of course Guns N’ Roses would have to prove this which highlights an important factor necessary for effective Copyright protection. Though Copyright protection is granted automatically on creation of a qualifying work it is vital that the author of such work keeps accurate records of the date of creation of the work and all subsequent alterations in order to be able to properly enforce such Copyright protection against infringers.
For more information on Copyright Protection contact one of our lawyers at info@briffa.com.