Musicians Who Were Accused of Copyright Infringement by Other Musicians: Can You Hear the Similarities?

From being accused of copying simple chord changes to unauthorized sampling, these musicians found themselves in hot water over copyright infringement allegations

We know that artists are sensitive about their craft, so what happens when one musician accuses another of copyright infringement?

That's the kind of dilemma musicians such as Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Drake and others have found themselves in as their mega-hits not only got the fans jamming, but also caught the attention of fellow songwriters and landed them in hot water with the courts.

From creating similar melodies to using samples, here are musicians who were sued by other musicians for copyright infringement — and how they fared.

Ed Sheeran vs. Marvin Gaye

Structured Asset Sales launched a copyright infringement lawsuit against Ed Sheeran, alleging the British singer ripped elements of "Let's Get It On" in his 2014 hit, "Thinking Out Loud."

Structured Asset Sales purchased one-third of the shares of "Let's Get It On" from the family of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the song with Marvin Gaye, in 2018.

Related:Ed Sheeran Found Not Liable in Copyright Lawsuit: 'I Feel the Truth Was Heard and Believed' (Exclusive)

Sheeran told the court in 2023 that the creation of "Thinking Out Loud" was a "very collaborative" process between him and co-writer Amy Wadge. He added that he was inspired to create the song after hearing Wadge "mumbling" the chords as he got ready to go to dinner, and said he knew they needed to write a song to them.

On May 4, 2023, a jury found Sheeran not liable in the lawsuit. The unanimous verdict was reached after about three hours of deliberation by seven jurors in a New York City courtroom.

Sam Smith vs. Tom Petty

Sam Smith made a huge splash on the 2014 charts with their hit, "Stay With Me."

Not long after, Smith was in the news for inadvertently imitating Tom Petty's 1989 single, "I Won't Back Down."

But the disagreement never made it to court as Smith's camp was quick to acknowledge the similarities and gave due credit.

"Recently the publishers for the song 'I Won't Back Down,' written by Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne, contacted the publishers for 'Stay With Me,' written by Sam Smith, James Napier and William Phillips, about similarities heard in the melodies of the choruses of the two compositions," Smith's rep told Rolling Stone. "Not previously familiar with the 1989 Petty/Lynne song, the writers of 'Stay With Me' listened to 'I Won't Back Down' and acknowledged the similarity."

Petty and ELO's Jeff Lynne, who co-wrote "I Won't Back Down," were immediately listed as co-writers of "Stay With Me" and receive royalties from the song.

Robin Thicke & Pharrell Williams vs. Marvin Gaye

Sheeran is hardly the first artist to be in hot water for sounding similar to Marvin Gaye.

In 2013, the late R&B crooner's family sued Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for copyright infringement, saying their mega-hit "Blurred Lines" stole elements of Gaye's 1977 hit, "Got to Give It Up."

In 2015, Thicke, Williams and Williams' publishing company were initially ordered to pay $7 million in damages to Gaye's estate in 2015. However, after they appealed, the judgment was reduced to $4,983,766.85, Billboard reported.

Related:Pharrell and Robin Thicke Must Pay Marvin Gaye's Family $5 Million Over 'Blurred Lines': Reports

They were also ordered to dole out 50 percent in royalties in perpetuity, making the settlement one of the biggest payouts in music history.

Vanilla Ice vs. Queen & David Bowie

The opening guitar riff of Queen and David Bowie's "Under Pressure" is arguably one of the most iconic guitar riffs in music, unless, of course, you're a young Vanilla Ice back in the '90s.

Queen and David Bowie sued the rapper for unauthorized use of the renowned "Under Pressure" chords for his 1990 hit, "Ice Ice Baby." For his part, Vanilla Ice — real name Robert Matthew Van Winkle — argued that his song had an extra beat in the middle, making the melody completely different from Queen and David Bowie's version.

Unfortunately for Ice, the courts failed to see things his way, and he was forced to pay an undisclosed amount to the band.

Decades later, Vanilla Ice would admit that he was wrong and was in fact sampling "Under Pressure," telling Dan Patrick: "Before me, the most-sold record was Run DMC, which was huge for Hip Hop to go gold because that's 500,000 units. But when you're selling a million records a day like my record was ... There just wasn't enough money for them to come after all those [previous] samples, [but] my record was selling and making a lot of money."

The Verve vs. The Rolling Stones

Though "Bitter Sweet Symphony" put The Verve on the map back in 1997, it's also the subject of one of the most dramatic copyright lawsuits.

Prior to releasing the song, the band got permission to use a few strings from The Rolling Stones' "The Last Time." However, after the song topped the charts, The Rolling Stones sued their fellow countrymen for having used more of the orchestral arrangements than originally agreed upon. According to NPR, The Verve's usage was so much so that it actually infringed on songwriters' rights.

Related:Dua Lipa Hit with Second Copyright Infringement Suit Over Hit Song 'Levitating'

The Verve was forced to settle with Allen Klein — The Rolling Stones' manager and copyrights manager — and give Mick Jagger and Keith Richards songwriter credits. They also relinquished publishing royalties to ABKCO Records, Klein's company.

The band was additionally sued by Andrew Oldham — another Stones manager and record producer — for songwriter royalties, and lost.

Because of the two lawsuits, The Verve forfeited all royalties and publishing rights on "Bitter Sweet Symphony" until 2019, when Mick Jagger and Keith Richards signed their publishing rights back over to them.

2 Live Crew vs. Roy Orbison

In a landmark case that established song parodies as fair use, Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. which owned the copyrights to Roy Orbison's 1964 rock ballad, "Oh Pretty Woman," sued the 2 Live Crew in 1994 for their use of the song.

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The Miami-bred rap group had rapped over the song and comically flipped the lyrics so as to "satirize the original work." In their ruling, the Supreme Court agreed that the 2 Live Crew had not infringed upon Orbison's work, given that satire is a form of criticism, therefore making their version of the song fair use.

Drake vs. The Estate of Jimmy Smith

Even one of the best wordsmiths of our time is no stranger to accusations of pillage.

In 2014, the estate of the late jazz musician Jimmy Smith filed a lawsuit against the Canadian rapper Drake for his sampling of "Jimmy Smith Rap" on 2013's "Pound Cake/Paris Morton Music 2," citing copyright violation.

However, as was the case in the "Pretty Woman" suit, the Supreme Court ruled that Drake's use of the spoken word poem was subversive and critical of the original, making it another example of fair use.

"The message of the 'Jimmy Smith Rap' is one about the supremacy of jazz to the derogation of other types of music, which — unlike jazz — will not last. On the other hand, 'Pound Cake' sends a counter-message — that it is not jazz music that reigns supreme, but rather all 'real music,' regardless of genre," said the Supreme Court, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Led Zeppelin vs. Randy Wolfe

You cannot mention Led Zeppelin without "Stairway to Heaven" coming up, however, the hit song has some legal drama behind it.

In 2014, the estate of Spirit guitarist Randy Wolfe sued Led Zeppelin, accusing the band of copyright infringement on their 1968 song, "Taurus."

In 2016, a jury ruled in favor of Led Zeppelin, to which the attorneys of the estate appealed. They won their case in 2018, but Led Zeppelin went on to appeal that decision and once again came out victorious in 2020.

Lana Del Rey vs. Radiohead

When Radiohead came for Lana Del Rey, she addressed her frustrations the only way millennials know how — via social media.

The queen of melancholy was sued by the British band for similarities between her 2017 song "Get Free," off Lust for Life, and the group's 1993 hit, "Creep."

In a since-deleted tweet, Del Rey revealed that the band rejected her offer of 40 percent of the publishing rights to "Get Free" and that they were going for 100 percent, reported Vulture.

The case was quietly settled out of court.

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