Coldplay is being sued by a man who calls himself a "well-talented" yet "unknown" songwriter ... and claims the band straight up jacked three of the nearly 4,000 songs he's written in his lifetime.
Sammie Lee Smith just filed a lawsuit in L.A. County Superior Court, alleging he wrote the songs "Yellow," "Clocks" and "Trouble" -- only to have them stolen from him and turned into massive hits by Coldplay.
In the lawsuit, Sammie claims since 1976, he has "recorded approximately 100 tapes, each tape containing approximately 40 songs." Sammie does not say if any of his other 3,997 songs were ever stolen by anyone.
Sammie wants the band to stop playing his hits ... and he wants an unknown, but probably massive, amount of money for his trouble.
Ticked Off Musician Sues Coldplay over 'Clocks'
1/13/2010 8:15 PM PST BY TMZ STAFF
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The Final Track
36. "I think Coldplay's most blatant ripoff to date has to be Kraftwerk's "Computer Love." Both the verse and chorus sections match up to Coldplay's "Talk" "
*sigh* Have you payed any attention? Kraftwerk are credited foe the riff.
33. "Not only has Coldplay ripped off other people's songs,they have managed to make them suck."
Even for me as a Coldplay fan that is sort of funny :P
My 3 (not 2, 3) cents: America is ridiculed all over the world for what people sue each other ocer there. Anyone can file a lawsuit without them losing anything on it. Coldplay are hard working, talented musicians, and lets face it: NOBODY can go through all the songs ever made and then write a song that is completly diffrent from anything you've ever heard. I'd actually say that if Coldplay started suing for plagarizm they coul easily earn a few million.
Verdict: Not guilty.
J C
These show business companies make such insane amounts of money.
they're the ones that should be taxed instead of working Americans.
Why don't the democrats tax Hollywood?
Yolanda Nixon
Meh, the Beatles stole all my songs...
Jamaican Sam
Maybe he should be sued by Sammie Lee Smith, running back from Florida State University, for stealing his name. Uh-huh. GOTCHA!
Gibberish
Right.... (I'm just sayin'...)
Alan
Coldplay are previously known for stealing other peoples music so it doesnt surprise me that this guy probably has a valid case
shuffler
Posted at 10:09PM on Jan 13th 2010 by Alan
Coldplay are previously known for stealing other peoples music so it doesnt surprise me that this guy probably has a valid case
------------------
Lawsuits are very common for popular artists. In fact, they are the norm and you would start worrying if you didn't have any. Any artist out there worth anything has had to defend their work.
aquanet
They totally ripped of Joe Satriani so it wouldn't be like they haven't done it before.
jp
Pathetic. just what the court needs, another worthless lawsuit. they should haul him in and sue him for suing over silly stuff.
JC
The main guitar rif in the song "Talk" is note for note the same as a melody in a Kraftwerk song (although I can't think of the name of the song). I love the song, "Talk", but yeah, I think they "borrowed" it.
Melissa
Seriously though? WHO THE HELL CARES ABOUT THIS WANNA BE GUY? Boo-hoo you still have 3997 songs left. And Im not even a fan of cold paly I jus hate nobodys tryin to make a dollar anyway they can, wastin the courts time is what this really is, of course he wont have to pay for it so why should he care.?
disturbed
Not to worry, everyone.
I've solved it.
It was Coldplay in the Clock Room with the Clocks.
JMH
FedEx's Inhumane Treatment
Go to You Tube, search word: FedEx Inhumane Treatment
tkll
The main guitar riff in the song "Talk" is note for note the same as a melody in a Kraftwerk song (although I can't think of the name of the song). I love the song, "Talk", but yeah, I think they "borrowed" it.
----------------------------------------------------
Yeah, and in the liner notes of that album they gave credit to Kraftwerk for borrowing from "Computer Love". No theft, they were given permission. ;)
Rachel
wait, didn't those songs come out like 6+ years ago. what took him so long to sue? epic fail.