The ongoing case of Avril Lavigne versus The Rubinoos continues. Lavigne has been accused of copying the Rubinoos’ song “I Wanna be Your Boyfriend” into her song that we all know called “Girlfriend”. Tommy Dunbar, founder of the Rubinoos says Girlfriend is a striking resemblance to their 1978 song. Lavigne claims she has never ripped anyone off, unfortunately with the points made in this case, and with hearing both songs myself, one must agree that Avril Lavigne plagiarized this song to create her own. Even if she is telling the truth when she says she has never heard this song before, this does not mean she might have accidently heard it on the radio, or heard it elsewhere. If Lavigne did not hear this song at all, she might have heard Lush’s song “I Wanna be Your Girlfriend” which is very similar to the Rubinoos song, unfortunately for Lavigne, Lush asked permission to use this song and was granted it.
Tommy Dunbar says the lyrics, the rhythm and the metre are identical between their song and Lavigne’s “Girlfriend”. Copyright infringement is about the melody and the lyrics being similar. Dave Steinberg of law firm Heenan Blaikie told CTV’s Canada’s FM that he does notice these similarities between the two songs. When listening to the two songs, one can clearly hear these being similar, the lyrics especially as some of the words are taken right out of the Rubinoos’ song, and are put together in a melody similar to that song also. The copyright law states one is allowed to copy 30 seconds or 10% of the song, Lavigne did just that, and went completely overboard by taking the lyrics and rhythm and maintaining it throughout the song. Avril also stated that she liked and copied a song from Peaches, this seems like a sign that she would just take any other song and intend to make it her own.
Not only has this one song been accused of plagiarism, many other of Lavigne’s songs have been similar to others, and this cannot just be a coincidence. A song from My Chemical Romance, whose music genre arguably can be compared to Avril Lavigne’s has also been listened to and sounds identical to one of Avril’s. Many people have noticed the similarties between these two songs and support their arguement by posting a video comparison: Plus, this lawsuit does not come as a surprise because Avril's been accused of copying before. Chantal Kreviazuk claimed that she "sent a song called "Contagious" to Avril. A song with the same title appears on one of Avril’s CD’s" with no credit given to Kreviazuk.
Nothing to take away from Lavigne’s singing ability and her success in the singing business, but with all this evidence used against her, there is no doubt she plagiarized this song and who knows how many others. She sang them very well, there is absolutely nothing against her there, but if she is unable to make her own music to sing, then she should be punished and this trial should end, and the result not being in her favour.
"ttp://fcinternet.hwdsb.on.ca/~aaron.puley/MediaLogHandouts/Readings/Copyright/Avril-Plagiarism-Case.pdf
"ttp://fcinternet.hwdsb.on.ca/~aaron.puley/MediaLogHandouts/Readings/Copyright/Avril-Denies-Plagiarism.pdf
"ttp://fcinternet.hwdsb.on.ca/~aaron.puley/MediaLogHandouts/Readings/Copyright/Lawsuit-Limited-Chance.pdf
"ttp://www.xenvideo.com/images/celebrities/avrilstealsong.jpg - photo
"ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYheUCRNjiI&feature=related - video
