Music This article is more than 14 years old

Coldplay plagiarism lawsuit dismissed by judge

This article is more than 14 years oldGuitarist Joe Satriani claimed the band copied his instrumental If I Could Fly for their own track Viva La Vida, but an out-of-court-settlement now seems to have been reached

On Monday, while the world raged over Kanye West's interruption of ingenue Taylor Swift, Coldplay quietly settled the copyright infringement lawsuit by Joe Satriani. According to court documents, Satriani's case against the British band was dismissed "upon stipulation" by California's central district court.

Satriani, a celebrated guitarist who has played with Mick Jagger and Deep Purple, alleged that Coldplay copied his 2004 instrumental track, If I Could Fly, for their hit song Viva La Vida. He sued them in December, demanding damages and "any profits attributable to the alleged copyright infringement".

"With the greatest possible respect to Joe Satriani," Coldplay replied in a statement, "if there are any similarities between our two pieces of music, they are entirely coincidental, and just as surprising to us as to him." After Satriani's lawyers finally tracked the band down, Coldplay asked that the case be heard in a jury trial.

In the filing posted 14 September, judge Dean D Pregerson dismissed the case and ruled that each party would "bear [their] own cost" for the litigation. The stipulation, er, "upon stipulation" suggests that the parties came to an out-of-court settlement – most likely that Coldplay paid Satriani off.

Although there is no evidence that Chris Martin and Coldplay directly copied Satriani's song, court precedents make copyright infringement cases very sticky. George Harrison was famously found to have "subconsciously plagiarised" the Chiffons' He's So Fine for his track, My Sweet Lord.

Neither Coldplay nor Satriani have commented on the end of the proceedings.

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