They did it again! Coldplay in more copyright trouble!
Just days after one copyright issue was resolved, another one has presented itself.
Fresh off Coldplay’s settlement with Joe Satriani, the English outfit is now facing copyright allegations over its recently released video for “Strawberry Swing”. As you can see below, Coldplay’s finished product resembles a striking resemblance to singer/songwriter Andy J Gallagher’s video for a song titled “Something Else”, particularly when it comes to flying musicians and stop-motion chalk animation. Gallagher’s video, which was directed by Owen Trevor, was released in 2008, a year before Coldplay’s video.
“While I can’t say they copied me, there are an awful lot of similarities between my video and theirs,” said Gallagher in an issued statement. “I think it’s unfair that ‘Strawberry Swing’ will probably be nominated for numerous awards and is being universally-acclaimed as groundbreaking, when Owen Trevor had virtually the same idea at least a year before.”
Coldplay has yet to comment on the matter.
http://www.shynola.com/originalityexplained.pdf
the medium is the same, the story is not. this is ridiculous. i guess if this goes through then Action Comics can sue Stan Lee and every other comic book creator for stealing their idea of superheroes wearing spandex.
This lawsuit is ridiculous. Not even close to the same. I agreed with Satriani’s lawsuit, but this is just stupid.
There’s more to the story. Andy’s video was shot down the street from the offices of the creative shop that did the Coldplay video. And it’s not simply the stop-motion, chalk. The medium isn’t up for debate, other artists use it, and have used it. That is not what he’s debating. What he is debating and concerned about is the storyline, sequences, shoot location, and scenes. If it were simply the chalk, it wouldn’t be an issue. But it’s not.
The last copyright issue I can see where the other artist has a case. But this one… Come on. There are a bunch other stop motion videos. Just because chalk was the medium of choice doesn’t mean you own the copy right to every stop motion with chalk.
Oh no, Coldplay used stop motion animation and so did someone else! Does that mean the next two videos that use black and white are copying off of each other? What about all the 80s hair bands that used ridiculously bad concert footage as their videos? This isn’t copying. In fact, Coldplay probably isn’t the first band to do a stop motion video featuring chalk animations, they’re just the highest profile name to do it. So whatever Andy Gallagher. Get over yourself.