U2 Accused Of Plagiarism; Being Sued For 'Achtung Baby's' Song 'The Fly'

By Carrie Winters - 03 Mar '17 05:30AM
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U2 is being sued for plagiarism. British musician Paul Rose filed a $5 million suit against U2. Rose accused the band of copying signature elements from his work.

According to a report, Rose sued U2 for copying his song for the band's 1991 album "Achtung Baby." It is indicated that the song from U2 titled "The Fly" contained elements from Rose's "Nae Slappin." The court documents stated that Rose provided U2 a demo copy of his songs. This was the time that the Dublin band was trying to find new ways on enhancing their style of music.

The report also indicated that an average listener can actually hear the similarities between the songs of U2 and Rose. Rose's attorney already informed the court that the reason for rose to file the case 26 years after the album was released is because he feared that it would ruin his career then.

A report indicated that Rose is seeking a copyright credit of $5 million for the song that has been copied. However, he needs to prove if U2 actually copied the song before they released "Achtung Baby." This has not been the first time that a famous band has been sued for plagiarism. In fact, Led Zeppelin was sued for their song "Stairway to Heaven."

 They were allegedly sued for copying the song from 1968 Taurus song from a band Spirit. Led Zeppelin though had the court in their favor when the decision was released in 2016. The bands that are mostly sued for copyright infringement rarely reach trial.

Meanwhile, Rose shared that in 1989; he submitted a demo tape for his song to Island Records. This was the year that U2 also signed up for the label. He noted that even if the band was popular at that time, they needed some changes with their songs. There has been no comment yet from the representatives of U2.

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