Coldplay Sued Again For Copyright Infringement... But Is It Actually A PR Stunt By No Name Musician?

from the idea-expression-anyone? dept

The more successful you are, the more likely you are to get sued over some bogus claim of copyright infringement, it seems. Having just settled a silly lawsuit from Joe Satriani, it seems that others are stepping forward to see if Coldplay will settle with them. This latest one is seriously ridiculous. Peter Friedman has the details of a guy who is suing Coldplay for copyright infringement, because in a recent video they used the idea of interacting with things happening on a chalkboard. Seriously. Check the two videos out:


The only thing in common is the concept of interacting with chalk on a wall. Even the actual themes of the video are entirely different. And, of course, there have been many other videos predating this other guy's.

My guess is that the guy suing knows all of this (or had a lawyer explain it to him), but he's still suing for one reason: because it may get his video and his name some attention (which is why we're not naming him directly in this post). These are the types of lawsuits for which there should be serious sanctions against those bringing them. It's almost certainly a bogus lawsuit. Copyright doesn't cover an idea, and the idea itself wasn't even that original. The videos are entirely different. This has a high likelihood of simply being abuse of copyright law and the court system because some unknown musician wants extra attention.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: chalk, coldplay, copyright, expression, idea, videos


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • icon
    Dark Helmet (profile), 30 Sep 2009 @ 2:40pm

    Yeah, nice try partner

    "but he's still suing for one reason: because it may get his video and his name some attention (which is why we're not naming him directly in this post)."

    Well, YOU might not name him in the post, and maybe that saves his recognition ranking in Google searches, but the embedded YouTube video splashes his name across the top, so as far as any and all readers of TechDirt are concerned, you might as well have....

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Mike Masnick (profile), 30 Sep 2009 @ 2:52pm

      Re: Yeah, nice try partner

      Well, YOU might not name him in the post, and maybe that saves his recognition ranking in Google searches, but the embedded YouTube video splashes his name across the top, so as far as any and all readers of TechDirt are concerned, you might as well have....

      Yes, I recognize that. But it's not in the text anywhere.

      At some point, if you're writing about the video, it makes sense to show it. Doesn't mean that it's promotional.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Dark Helmet (profile), 30 Sep 2009 @ 2:55pm

        Re: Re: Yeah, nice try partner

        Fair enough.

        P.S. You know how I know YOU'RE gay? Because you embed Coldplay trailers....

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    RD, 30 Sep 2009 @ 3:11pm

    This garbage...

    will continue and get much, much worse as long as there is virtually ZERO accountability to those bringing fraudulent and specious copyright lawsuits. The onus is ALWAYS one way - against the alleged infringer. The accuser wins no matter what, or at least, never gets punished for wasting the time of the court or the accused. Why not sue when there is NO downside (except perhaps PR backlash, and even then not much usually).

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    ERH, 30 Sep 2009 @ 6:11pm

    Snicker

    Maybe he's suing because the music industry has misguidedly trained musicians and the common American that copyright is king!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Hank Ross, 30 Sep 2009 @ 6:33pm

    Concepts and themes...

    If you could sue someone for stealing the concept and theme of your video the guy who made "I Met The Walrus" should sue Microsoft for those awful ads.

    I like how in Mad Men they go through all the trouble of ripping off "Bye Bye Birdy" for Pepsi. Only for Pepsi to realize it's lame once they see it. I wish someone at MS had had the good taste to do that.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Marcus, 30 Sep 2009 @ 9:38pm

    Not quite an original idea....

    Definitely nothing more than a publicity stunt.

    They might want to check out the films of J. Stuart Blackton, over 100 years old...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dRe85cNXwg
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay-85YqEV-s

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    MRK, 1 Oct 2009 @ 8:45am

    I guess Robin Rhode better sue both artists if we want to be sure everyone gets their piece of the chalk art prize. /sarcasm.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Rhode

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Beck, 10 Dec 2009 @ 2:49pm

    Uh, this is the same kinda thing in a BNL video (Forget the name at the 'mo)
    Absolutely ridiculous

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.