- yesterday
From bass lines to melodies, these chart-topping hits landed their creators in legal hot water! Join us as we count down the most notorious pop songs that sparked major courtroom battles over copyright infringement. When musical inspiration crosses the line into alleged theft, the consequences can be costly!
Category
🎵
MusicTranscript
00:00This afternoon, a jury ruling against Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke, finding they copied a Marvin Gaye classic.
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the songs that have led their creators facing major legal battles, mostly for alleged copyright infringement.
00:17Number 10, Uptown Funk, Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars.
00:21This funky number has led to some funky lawsuits, plural.
00:33The song had been accused of similarities with 1979's Oops, Upside Your Head by the Gap Band.
00:38Other songs the composition was alleged to take from included a Serbian song, the electro-funk Young Girls from 1983, and the sequences Funk You Up.
00:51Get up, get up, get up, get up, get up, get up, get up, get up, sit back down.
00:56The song has also been accused of being similar to Zapp's 1980, More Ounce to the Bounce.
01:01While many of the lawsuits have been dropped, the Gap Band did receive 17% of the publishing royalties, with Rudolph Taylor and producer Lonnie Simmons receiving credit as co-writers.
01:10You don't mess with the 80s.
01:11Say it loud!
01:21Number 9, Shape of You, Ed Sheeran.
01:34This blockbuster hit was the first one to hit 2 billion streams on Spotify, but it may not have been a completely original composition.
01:41It wasn't long before musicians Sammy Chokri and Ross O'Donohue accused Sheeran of using lines from their 2015 song, Oh Why.
01:51By 2022, the parties were in court.
02:05That said, the two songs are different in melody except the background chorus, O-I and O-Y respectively.
02:11It's a very slight similarity that could be due to coincidence.
02:14In April 2022, the judge ruled in Sheeran's favor.
02:17Come and now, follow my lead.
02:20I'm in love with the shape of you.
02:23We push and pull like a magnet, too.
02:25Although my heart is falling, too.
02:28I'm in love with your body.
02:30Number 8, Ghostbusters, Ray Parker Jr.
02:33If there's something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call?
02:40Ghostbusters!
02:40The theme song from the 1984 film Ghostbusters was a big hit and was even nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars.
02:49Unfortunately, it was also hit with a plagiarism lawsuit, claiming the song takes its melody from the song I Want a New Drug by Huey Lewis in the news.
02:56I want a new drug, one that does what it should, one that won't make me feel too bad, one that won't make me feel too good.
03:06The filmmakers did admit they used the song as temporary background music.
03:10They even wanted to hire the band to write the theme song, but they refused.
03:13Though it's not an exact copy, the similarities are there for sure.
03:17Ray Parker Jr. settled the case out of court with a confidentiality agreement and an undisclosed sum.
03:21Busting ghosts is a tricky business.
03:31Number 7, Come Together, The Beatles.
03:45This song opened this band's legendary Abbey Road album of 1969.
03:49Even so, it may have in places copied You Can't Catch Me by Chuck Berry, both melodically and lyrically.
03:56The Beatles essentially slowed down the song and made some other changes musically and kept some of the lyrics.
04:09In 1973, the case was settled out of court, with John Lennon promising to cover three classic rock and roll numbers in his album.
04:16This album became 1975's rock and roll, but Lennon withholding one of the songs from release led to another legal contention.
04:23Nobody came together for this song.
04:25Come together, right now, over me.
04:34Number 6, Barbie Girl, Aqua.
04:36Of course, if you're going to write a song about Barbie, Mattel is going to get involved.
04:48In 1997, the company sued MCA over the band Aqua's song, Barbie Girl, claiming it violated their trademark and misrepresented the doll.
04:56The court dismissed the case, as the song was obviously a parody protected under fair use.
05:00The judge, funny enough, concluded his ruling, saying, the parties are advised to chill.
05:05And in 2009, Mattel had the chutzpah to use the song in its advertisements with changed lyrics.
05:11You can be a star, no matter who you are.
05:15Be an inspiration, make a decoration.
05:19In 2023, the soundtrack of the film Barbie included Nicki Minaj's Barbie World, with the melody playing in the background.
05:25The parties, indeed, did not chill.
05:27Like Jazzy, Stacey, Ricky, all of the Barbies is pretty, all of the Barbies is bad, it, girls, and we ain't playing tag.
05:35Number 5, Surfing USA, The Beach Boys.
05:40If everybody had an ocean, across the USA, then everybody'd be surfing, like California.
05:52This is a more straightforward case of copyright infringement.
05:55The band has always been open about using Chuck Berry's Sweet Little Sixteen as the basis for its classic surfing song.
06:01Sure enough, the songs have nearly the same rhythm and melody.
06:04Still, the band's record did not credit Berry until 1966, with the release of the album, Best of the Beach Boys.
06:21Berry had no hard feelings over the copying, though.
06:24It even stated he loved The Beach Boys' lyrical rewrite.
06:26Brian Wilson was credited as writing the lyrics, although in 2015, Mike Love claimed to have worked together with Wilson to make the song into a surfing one.
06:34All's well that ends well, we guess.
06:36All over the head, inside, outside USA, inside, outside, everybody's got surfin', surfin' USA.
06:46Number 4, Bittersweet Symphony, The Verve.
06:51Cause it's a bittersweet symphony that's live.
07:00This song indeed leaves a bittersweet aftertaste.
07:03It turns out Virgin Records had acquired the rights for The Verve to use a sample of the Rolling Stones' The Last Time from Decca Records,
07:10particularly the orchestral version by the Andrew Oldman Orchestra.
07:13However, the company did not obtain permission from the Rolling Stones' manager, who refused to give it.
07:26Bittersweet Symphony, in short, borrowed more heavily from the Stones than was agreed upon, including the melody.
07:31The lawsuit had devastating consequences, with The Verve forced to relinquish 100% of their royalties and credit to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
07:39In 2019, both royalties and credit were given back to songwriter Richard Ashcroft.
07:44Ugh, what a mess.
07:45Well, I've never prayed, but tonight I'm on my knees, yeah.
07:56Number 3, My Sweet Lord, George Harrison.
07:59I really wanna see you, I'd like to see you, Lord.
08:08I wanna see you, Lord.
08:10It takes so long, my Lord.
08:13In 1971, Bright Tunes Music Corporation sued Harrison for allegedly copying Ronnie Mack's He's So Fine when creating his massive 1970 hit.
08:22To make matters worse, The Chiffons, who had a big hit with Mack's song in 1963, re-recorded it in 1975.
08:29The similarities musically are there, although the difference in subject and emotion are really different.
08:47This led to a truly contentious lawsuit, with Bright Tunes rejecting Harrison's offer of 40% of the royalties.
08:53Harrison claimed he had been inspired by the hymn, Oh Happy Day.
08:56Finally, by the 1990s, Harrison was found liable, although due to shenanigans by the other party, he was only forced to pay half a million dollars.
09:04He also received the rights to He's So Fine.
09:06Incredible.
09:06Number 2.
09:20Ice Ice Baby
09:21Vanilla Ice
09:22This big hit led to a big lawsuit.
09:38The song was accused of ripping off Queen and David Bowie's 1981 song, Under Pressure.
09:42Even to the untrained ear, it's hard to miss the identical bass line in both.
09:46Though Robert Van Winkle, Vanilla Ice's real name and one of the songwriters, claims he added some variation.
09:54He did admit he came up with the idea of sampling the Queen's song after exploring his brother's old records.
10:07The case was settled out of court, with Bowie and Queen receiving songwriter credit, and Van Winkle required to pay recompense to the songwriters.
10:14If there was a problem, throw, I'll solve it.
10:16Check out the hook while DJ revolves it.
10:18Ice Ice Baby
10:20Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
10:26You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
10:30If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
10:36Number 1.
10:37Blurred Lines
10:38Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell
10:40This wildly controversial hit, accused of glorifying sexual violence, was accused of plagiarizing Marvin Gaye's Gotta Give It Up and Funkadelic's Sexy Ways.
10:50I just wanna say that I need you in so many ways, baby, you'll turn it on, oh, you'll turn it on.
10:59In response, Thicke et al filed a complaint against the Gaye family and Bridgeport Music.
11:04They claimed that Blurred Lines and Gotta Give It Up only share the same genre, not melody.
11:08The judge, however, found significant similarities between the two, and the appeal upheld that decision.
11:28Musicians were not happy with this development.
11:30With over 200 musicians signing their support for the appeal, you could say there are a lot of blurred lines when it comes to copyright law.
11:36If you can't read from the same page
11:40Maybe I'm going deaf, maybe I'm going blind, maybe I'm out of my mind
11:46Which other song do you know had a contentious lawsuit?
11:50Let us know in the comments down below.
11:52This is ourselves
11:55Under pressure
11:58This is ourselves
11:58We're able to get clips around
12:00This has been torrent
12:00This has been torrent
12:02This has been torrent
12:03The way
12:03We'll be too late
12:04This has been torrent
12:05We'lllong
12:06So
12:06Now
12:08This is our
12:08Sneak
12:09It's out
12:09This
12:11The name
12:13We're
12:15We'll
12:16After
12:17This
12:17We'll
12:17We'll
12:18Put
12:19This
12:21We'll
12:21box
12:21This
12:23We'll
12:24Have
Recommended
12:45
|
Up next
29:56
13:12
12:08
22:27
9:55
11:51
14:06
12:48
11:35
12:21
10:21
12:53
13:47