There have been numerous cases in the past years of disputes over copyright of songs that sound very similar to songs recorded earlier by other artists.

If you know of any other obvious examples of this, please post them on this thread.

I've got one example about alleged plagiarism that may not have been very publicized, but the similarities and the story behind it make it very possible that the original author might have a case here... The author of the earlier song has been pushing his case in the UK legal system for at least 3 years now.. I don't know how far the lawsuit has progressed by now, but it should be interesting to see what the outcome is..

The "original" song:

The song "Söknuður" (roughly translates as "Missing", as in missing someone who has passed away), written by Jóhann Helgason and recorded in 1977 by the late Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson, one of Iceland's all time favourite singers, who tragically was killed in a car accident in 1978:


The other song:
"You Raise Me Up" was written by Rolf Lovland, a Norwegian songwriter who has spent a lot of time in Iceland which supports the claim that he has probably heard "Söknuður". This song of course was made famous by Josh Groban's version:


So what do you think? Does the writer of "Söknuður" have a case? I should note that I saw a news report that according to a scientific study the main melody in "You Raise Me Up" had 97% similarites to "Söknuður".
[Edited 4/29/10 16:26pm]

America: Daisy Jane 1975




Janet Jackson: Let's Wait Awhile 1986

Coincidence - everyone just happens to be ripping off Bach.

A couple of hi-profile cases.



He's So Fine - The Chiffons / My Sweet Lord - George Harrison




I Want A New Drug - Huey Lewis & The News / Ghostbusters - Ray Parker



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[Edited 4/29/10 17:52pm]

Power Flower by Stevie Wonder



Ambrosia - Biggest Part Of Me

I always thought these sounded very similar:







It's like one big 90s dance fusion!

Of course, there's also this:

A few other confirmed kills.



Love Is A Wonderful Thing - Isley Brothers / Love Is A Wonderful Thing - Michael Bolton





Crescent City Blues - Gordon Jenkins / Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash





Constant Craving - k.d. lang / Anybody Seen My Baby? - Rolling Stones




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one segment in particular is almost identical.

theAudience said:

Don't get me started. Shame!

this one is awesome:





Of course Led Zeppelin were well-known for "borrowing" material.

let me juzt not go there

70sLove said:

I was going to post this.

I guess America is Jimmy's favorite band

Cinnie said:

Why not Vinyl-man?

NoVideo said:

The story goes that Taurus was heard when Led Zeppelin was an opening act for Spirit in 1968






...More "borrowing" by Led Zeppelin.



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...


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I was listening to this John Mellencamp classic:



and I noticed that it sounded quite similar to this 1970's classic:

theAudience said:

that was awesome!!

theAudience said:

theAudience said:

When it came to "Constant Craving" and that Rolling Stones song, it was Mick's daughter that pointed the similarity of two songs, out. This is why, KD gets a writers credit for the Stones song.

Since we are on the the subject of Zeppelin







The first is a given. The reason that I put the Doobies up there, is because I found similarities in both songs in the way they were sung