2009.10.05 - Reuters - Record Labels Sue Guns N' Roses For Copying Songs (& lawsuit documents)

Record labels sue Guns N' Roses for copying songs

NEW YORK, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Two independent record labels sued U.S. rock band Guns N' Roses for $1 million, claiming the group used portions of two songs by a German musician on their last album "Chinese Democracy."

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.

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.

The lawsuit, filed on Friday but made available on Monday, seeks $1 million in damages. A spokesperson for Interscope-Geffen A&M, owned by Vivendi's (VIV.PA) Universal Music Group, was not available for comment.

"Chinese Democracy," the band's first new album in 17 years that was released last November, resulted in disappointing sales.

Besides Rose, the only original member in the band, the other current and former band members named in the suit include guitarist Brian Carroll, better known as "Buckethead," bassist Tommy Stinson, and Robin Finck, who currently plays lead guitar with rock act Nine Inch Nails.

(Reporting by Christine Kearney; Editing by Michelle Nichols and Philip Barbara)

https://web.archive.org/web/20091009060552/http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN0538697220091005

The lawsuit document:

Motion to dismiss (it was denied by the judge):