There is no statute of limitations when it comes to earning or losing credit for music you created- something Robert Plant and Jimmy Page could soon find out, to their cost, following a ruling that said they must face a jury over allegations they ripped off part of their classic track 'Stairway To Heaven'.
They're the latest in a long line of artists dragged before the courts to defend their artistic integrity. Last year a jury awarded Marvin Gaye’s children nearly $7.4m after they deemed that Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke copied Gaye's 'Got to Give it Up' on their monster hit 'Blurred Lines' (where are our damages for having the damned thing water-boarded into our consciousness?).
Timbaland only recently had his copyright infringement lawsuit dismissed in regards to a Michael Jackson song he produced, while Will.i.am and Justin Timberlake are being sued over their 2006 song 'Damn Girl', after it was claimed that it borrowed heavily from Perry Kibble 1969 composition 'A New Day Is Here At Last'.
The line between influence, coincidence and outright sham-artistry is a debate that has raged as long as popular music has existed. Here are some of the ones that gave us - and in certain cases, some lawyers - pause.
1. The Beach Boys V Chuck Berry
While Brian Wilson is indisputably one of the greatest songwriters of his (or any) generation, he was stung early on in his career ripping off one of the pioneers of rock and roll, Chuck Berry.
Described as an homage to Berry's 'Sweet Little Sixteen', the similarities between it's melody and The Beach Boys' 'Surfin' USA' are almost indistinguishable, so that writing credit and publishing royalties were later signed over to Berry.
Wilson doesn't hold a grudge though...and even occasionally slips lyrics from The Fountainhead into his own smash during live shows.
2. The Chiffons V George Harrison
George Harrison may have been the first Beatle to score a number one solo single, but he did it by crafting his ode to 'Our Lord' over The Chiffon's 'He's So Fine'. Long before Gwyneth was 'consciously uncoupling', Harrison was subconsciously plagiarizing the 60's girl-group, who perhaps themselves drew on 'Oh Happy Day', which Harrison says was his true inspiration. Sued in 1976, the ruling had major repercussions for the music industry.
3. Sam Smith & The Strokes V Tom Petty
It's been sometime since Tom Petty has been down with the kids. So he must find some solace in hearing his music being aped by other artists.
While he was amused when The Strokes openly admitted to stealing from 'American Girl' for their biggest hit 'Last Night', he needed his pocket fed to cope with Sam Smith's 'Stay With Me' being linked to his own hit 'Won't Back Down'.
4. Mark Ronson V Michael Jackson, The Time, The Gap Band, Zapp & Roger
Ronson made his name reinterpreting other people's work on his sophomore album, Version. Perhaps he hadn't fully gotten his head into the game of creating wholly unique work when it came to making 'Uptown Funk'.
For while Trinidad James was initially given a credit for the lifting of his lyric "Don't believe me, just watch", The Gap Band had to wait until after the songs' release to get their credit.
While Michael Jackson, Prince and Zapp & Roger could possibly make their own claims, as the above mash up makes clear.
5. Huey Lewis and the News V Ray Parker Jnr
When looking for a theme tune to their hit supernatural comedy Ghostbusters, Columbia Pictures approached Huey Lewis and the News to supply it. They refused... so Columbia hired Ray Parker Jnr instead, who Lewis claimed ripped off the melody for his bands hit 'I Want a New Drug'. They settled out of court, but when Lewis spilled about the details of the settlement on VH1 Behind the Music, Parker counter-sued leading to another out of court settlement between the pair.
6. Coldplay V Cat Stevens V Joe Satriani V Creaky Boards V Giovanni Battista Pergoles
A song so catchy everyone claims to have written it first. While all four tracks bare remarkable similarity to one another, California Central Distract Court dismissed Satriani's claim that Coldplay ripped off his 2004 track 'I Could Fly' on their 2008 hit 'Viva La Vida', which poured cold water on any lawsuit Cat Steven's himself might mount over similarities to his song 'Foreigner Suite'. ("I don't think they did it intentionally," he opined in '09).
Australian band Creaky Boards dropped their own claim - that they had been plagiarised on the ironically titled 'The Songs I Didn't Write', also released in '08 - when Coldplay produced a demo of 'Viva La Vida', that was recorded in 2007.
And then in 2011, American music professor Dr. Lawrence Ferrara showed that the melody structures of 'Viva La Vida', 'If I Could Fly' and 'Foreigner Suite' were very similar to the composition 'Se tu m'ami' by the Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, who died in 1736. "Obviously this is a work that we would call in the 'public domain'", Dr. Ferrara said.
Well, that settles that then.
7. Cheryl Tweedy Cole Versini Fernandez V Kelis V K-Ci & JoJo
When the then Cheryl Cole launched her solo career with 'Fight For This Love', people were incredulous at how similar it was to Kelis' 'L'il Star' - as well as also having a video which resembled Danni Minogue's 'Put the Needle on It'. An article in the Daily Mail also noted that it had the same chord progression as K-Ci and Jojo's 'All My Life' too
