Secretly_a_Lizardman

Try as you might, Gmaj7 is not, and will never be, Bmin. By "a couple of dynamic flourishes," did you mean "playing different notes"? The similarity is strong during the first two beats of the measure, but there is substantial deviation in the melodies during the third and fourth beats. This is probably the part that you refer to as "a couple of dynamic flourishes." You imply that the differences are trivial, but there are differences. They are both in 4/4, just like 80% of popular music. You didn't say anything about the instrumental arrangements, which are completely different. The arrangement dramatically alters the sound and perception of a composition, which is significant because this is going to be decided by a jury, not by a college of learned musicologists. You dismiss comparisons to prior art as irrelevant, but unique is better than generic when it comes to the strength of a plagiarism suit. "Unique" is not a word that I would use to describe either the melody or the chord progression. I don't know if anyone has mentioned the Gin Blossoms "Hey Jelousy" yet, but that song sounds awfully similar to the Joe Satriani's "intellectual property," much more than any other comparison I've heard so far. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxQhx4t1FmE]YouTube - Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy[/ame]