Garbage sued for Copyright Infringement for ‘ITIP’

The members of Garbage have new legal woes now that they have been slapped with a lawsuit from a music-publishing company that claims the group unlawfully copied “significant elements of both lyrics and music” of the 1967 song by American Breed, “Bend Me, Shape Me,” for its own “I Think I’m Paranoid.” Garbage’s song appears on the group’s 1998 album, Version 2.0.

The suit, filed Friday (May 11) in U.S. District Court in California, alleges that by failing to give “credit to the writers and publisher of the son, defendants have falsely represented to the public that defendants [Duke] Erikson, [Shirley] Manson, [Steve] Marker, and [Butch] Vig have independently created and are the authors of [”I Think I’m Paranoid”], in its entirety.”

Plaintiff Helios Music Corporation is requesting statutory or compensatory damages, including all profits generated with the song and for the defendants to cease “any further sale, distribution or exploitation” of the song, punitive damages, and reasonable attorney’s fees.” Also named in the suit by plaintiff Helios Music are Almo Music, Rondor Music International, Deadarm Music, Irving Music, and Vibecrusher Music.

Calls to Universal Music were not returned at press time.

This is the second legal wrangle for Garbage this year. In January, the group filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming that Universal was using “wrongful, monopolistic, and strong-arm tactics” to stop the band from going to another record label.

The band invoked a clause, the “keyman clause,” that stated in its contract that they’re free of obligation to Almo or its parent company if Almo’s chairman Jerry Moss ceased to run the company. The complaint alleges that Universal acquired Almo and that Moss retired. When the band invoked the aforementioned clause, Universal told them he hadn’t left.

Nonetheless, the group is apparently not letting litigation keep it down and has announced that its third album, now titled Beautiful Garbage, is set for a late summer release.

“The mixing of our new release has begun,” the band revealed on its official website (garbage.com). “The band thanks you for your patience and ongoing support.”

source: music.yahoo.com