Guns N’ Roses sued for copyright violation
p2pnet news view | P2P | Music:- The latest Guns N’ Roses album, ‘Chinese Democracy,’ meant only one thing for Ken Cogill (right), a fan who’s online name was Skwerl.
Misery.
The RIAA, FBI and Guns’n’Roses wanted him jailed for uploading nine unreleased tracks from the band’s Chinese Democracy album to his blog, said p2pnet in July.
To their anger, he was instead ordered to serve two months of home confinement and a year of parole for breaking federal copyright law.
And now it’s Skwerl’s turn to laugh.
In an ironic twist, Guns N’ Roses is being accused of, you guessed it, copyright infringement.
“Guns N’ Roses and Universal Music Group’s Interscope-Geffen A&M label were sued by British label Independiente and the U.S. arm of Domino Recording Company, who own the licensing rights to songs by German electronic musician Ulrich Schnauss,” says Billboard.
“Singer Axl Rose and Guns N’ Roses band members and album producers copied portions of two of Schnauss’ songs — ‘Wherever You Are’ and ‘A Strangely Isolated Place’ — for a song used on the band’s last album called’Riad N’ the Bedouins’ according to the lawsuit,” it says.
However, Guns N’ Roses manager Irving Azoff says the band “vigorously contests” the claims, says a second Billboard post.
What a surprise. 
“Besides Rose, who is the only original member in the band, the other current and former band members named in the suit include guitarist Brian ‘Buckethead’ Carroll, bassist Tommy Stinson, and Robin Finck, who currently plays lead guitar with rock act Nine Inch Nails,” the story adds.
Chinese Democracy was the band’s most recent album in almost two decades.
(Cheers, RW)
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
p2pnet – Guns’n’Roses vs Skwerl: RIAA update, July 15, 2009
Billboard – Guns N’ Roses Sued For Copying Songs, October 6, 2009
Billboard – Guns N’ Roses ‘Vigorously Contests’ Lawsuit, October 7, 2009
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October 8th, 2009 at 9:50 am
And people wonder why some of us would like to see copyright reduced to nothing but natural rights or abolished completely!
“This song, when the tempo is changed, key is changed, modes used are changed, change the Dom7 to Dim7, change the feel from 12/8 to 4/4, sounds like our song, we’re suing you! You have 5 notes in a row that match our melody and you play them more than once! Give us 85% of the royalties.”
You know what? Good music borrows from other good music, taking ideas further, that’s what happens! That’s how music evolves! Get over it and stop suing or there will be nothing created for fear of lawsuits!
October 8th, 2009 at 10:25 am
There’s nothing better than Big Music suing Big Music. Helps take the little guy out of the crosshairs.
October 8th, 2009 at 11:08 am
“Chinese democracy”. What a name!
October 8th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Guns N’ Roses album, ‘Chinese Democracy,’
They can keep the rose and we take the guns.
We need it to deal with the Chinese democracy and the entertainment parasites.
October 8th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Uh…..
1. “Guns ‘N Roses” has been defunct for years. Axl was in his reclusive phase since the early 90s, and the “chinese democracy” thing was little more than the musical equivalent of “vaporware” — he kept mentioning it every few years, but never seemed to get anything done.
2. He should be kissing “Skwer’s” ass, rather than suing him: I mean, how hard-core of a fan do you have to be to wait around for fifteen years, and actually take the modern equivalent of Howard Hughes’ hobby-project seriously enough to put it on your blog?
Axl Rose has been a near total recluse for more than twenty years, and NOW he wants to re-emerge and have people be interested?
Narcissistic celebrity asshole deserves what he gets: I personally think it’s fun to watch “rights-holders” bitchslap each other over petty nonsense, thus discrediting their precious monopoly privileges even FURTHER than they already are.
Otherwise, nobody gives a shit, Axl: get over yourself.
October 9th, 2009 at 2:04 am
hahahahahahaha
who doesn’t love a bit of irony now and again?
October 9th, 2009 at 7:34 am
Robert made a great point I think. Ideas are the same. If we get to the point where one can no longer build upon the work of others, how will we evolve culturally and technologically as a species? Copyright can be a good idea, but only when it is appropriately applied in moderation, not as an abusive blanket money making scheme. There absolutely HAS to be reasonable time limits with the prospect of ANY AND ALL WORKS eventually becoming public domain at some point. If copyright is no longer working as originally intended then it is time to reevaluate and perhaps even dump it altogether.
I have no doubt that the whole copyright debacle will continue until it reaches critical mass and the government can’t ignore the problem any longer, probably within the next ten to fifteen years. Keep fighting the good fight until then everybody! Laws are meant to govern everyone fairly, not cater to a small collective group, giving them a monopoly for eternity.