More Thoughts On Coldplay And Plagerism

I'm not a lawyer. I just play one on the intertubes.

I keep thinking about this case Joe Satriani has brought against Coldplay and of course, it's getting quite a bit of coverage in light of the Grammy noms. I have a few thoughts... I suppose in defense of Coldplay. Although, I can totally understand why Satriani brought the case. I'm still curious about the legal standards that will be applied. Does he have to prove damages? Does he deserve all the profits the song has generated? Does he have to prove intent? Does the "coincidence" defense hold water? Anyway, here are some thoughts:

In 2005, Coldplay received permission from the pioneering German electronic band Kraftwerk to use the synth melody from "Computer Love" as the vocal melody for their song "Talk" from XY. That establishes a record of being forthright with their derivative works.

Furthermore, it's entirely possible for two people to "invent" the same thing nearly simultaneously. It's happened in the world of technology and mathematics multiple times. People in different parts of the world, working independent of each other, have at times made similar if not identical discoveries at roughly the same time.

The Great Radio Controversy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_radio

Einstein and Poincare published papers on special relativity within months of each other
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Poincar%C3%A9#Poincar.C3.A9_and_Einstein

The Taylor Series
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_series

Colin Maclaurin (February, 1698 – June 14, 1746)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Maclaurin

Brook Taylor (18 August 1685 – 30 November 1731)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brook_Taylor

I also find it very interesting that Satriani is specifically requesting a jury trial. Why specifically rule out arbitration or a settlement? I suspect he figures normal folks will be more sympathetic to his claim. Frankly, from the chatter I hear about this, the average person doesn't know what the hell they're talking about. All they hear is the two melodies played against each other. They don't know enough about music to truly have an educated opinion.

There are 12 notes in western music. That's it. There is not an infinite number of melodic combinations for those 12 notes but there are billions. When you consider the variety of ways those note can be played and combined with harmony and rhythm, it definitely starts to feel like infinity. However, in this case, we aren't talking about rare melodic combinations. On the contrary, with no intended offense to the artists in question, this melody is fairly simple. Furthermore, there are some slight differences in each melody.

In the end, it won't matter what a bunch of douchebags (myself included) on the intertubes think. It will only matter what the lawyers present, what the judge allows and what the jury decides.

I'm going to change my prediction on this one. I suspect Coldplay will be forced to pay something despite no one being able to prove this was intentional. As it has in the past, intent doesn't seem to matter. Exactly where are we musicians supposed to go to check the melodies we create against the vast database of every song ever written?