Coldplay/Satriani Case Settled

Coldplay and Joe Satriani have reached an out of court settlement in Satriani's copyright infringement case over the song Vida La Vida. Given Vida La Vida's strong melodic similarities to Satriani's 2004 track If I Could Fly, Coldplay was well-advised not to let this case get in front of a jury.

The issue here was never whether Coldplay had knowingly copied Satriani's work, it was whether they had COULD have heard If I Could Fly (a slam-dunk) and whether the songs were close enough that Satriani's copyright had been infringed.

These out of court settlements typically include a gag order preventing either side from discussing the case but we can assume that Satch will receive a payoff while Coldplay will not have to admit any wrongdoing and will avoid the hassle of a court trial. Chris Martin was probably sincere in claiming that the similarities here were conicidnetal and not intentional.

So everyone's happy. Now the ball's in Cat Stevens' court.

Here's the Billboard article:

http://www.billboard.com/#/news/coldplay-satriani-copyright-lawsuit-dismissed-1004012280.story