Things have been relatively quiet on the Joe Satriani vs. Coldplay front since the guitarist filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit against the band in December, claiming that Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" was too similar to the melody of his instrumental "I Just Wanna Fly"... until this week.
Reports surfaced on Wednesday that Satriani was so fed up with the band allegedly dodging his attempts to serve them with papers in the suit that, according to Fox News, he planned an ambush at this Sunday's Grammy awards, where the group is up for seven awards. Among the nominations are Record of the Year and Song of the Year for "Viva la Vida," which is also up for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Fox reported that Satriani and lawyer Howard King were planning to "fill the Grammys with servers ready to pounce on [Coldplay singer] Chris Martin and his fellow bandmates." There were also plans to send a fleet of photographers to document the event.
But King told MTV News on Thursday (February 5) that there won't be any such drama after all.
"The members of Coldplay have retained a lawyer, who has agreed to accept service of the complaint on their behalf," King wrote in an e-mail. "Therefore, there will be no attempt to personally serve the band while they are in Los Angeles." But had they not retained that lawyer, King said he would have cornered the band, "either at the Grammys or any of the other events we knew they are planning to attend."
Satriani is seeking a jury trial in the dispute, as well as damages and "any and all profits" attributable to the alleged copyright infringement. Coldplay responded to the suit within a week of its filing, writing on their Web site, "With the greatest possible respect to Joe Satriani, we have now unfortunately found it necessary to respond publicly to his allegations. If there are any similarities between our two pieces of music, they are entirely coincidental, and just as surprising to us as to him. Joe Satriani is a great musician, but he did not write the song 'Viva la Vida.' We respectfully ask him to accept our assurances of this and wish him well with all future endeavours."
A spokesperson for Coldplay could not be reached for comment at press time.
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What do you think about the whole situation? Would serving a lawsuit on Coldplay at the Grammys be an immature act or just good timing? Are you glad it won't spill over into an awards ceremony or were you secretly hoping it would happen?! Let us know in the Joe Satriani thread at the Coldplay forum here onwards and also at our dedicated Grammy thread here
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