Irving Azoff On Plagiarism Lawsuit

Guns N' Roses manager Irving Azoff has responded to the Ulrich Schnauss lawsuit with this statement:

"The band vigorously contests these claims and intends to respond accordingly."

He added the band and production team’s legal reps will be responding SOON, as well.

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD AND READ THE FULL COMPLAINT HERE.

His full statement follows:

"The band believed when the record came out and still believes that there are no unauthorized samples on the track.

The snippets of ‘ambient noise’ in question were provided by a member of the album’s production team who has assured us that these few seconds of sound were obtained legitimately. Artists these days can’t read the minds of those they collaborate with and therefore are unfortunately vulnerable to claims like this one.

While the band resents the implication that they would ever use another artist’s work improperly and are assessing possible counterclaims, they are confident this situation will be satisfactorily resolved."

Rolling Stone

Guns N' Roses Sued for Plagiarism

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 US 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 Universal Music Group, was not available for comment.



For Further Discussion: Guns N' Roses Sued For Plagiarism

Reuters