Hey Hey You You…Stole my song!!!

In recent weeks there has been speculation that the Princes of Rock (In Canada) makes a living off of other peoples work. Avril Lavigne’s hit single “Girlfriend” was recently rumoured to be stolen from a band in the 70’s. Avril’s nightmare came true. The Roobinoos was a band on the late 70’s with a hit called, “I wanna be your Boyfriend”. (Yeah, you can see the resemblance already). It was reported that the one of the band members of The Roobinoos filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit on Avril. They should also realise, its not all Avrils fault. The Roobinoos song came out in 1979 when Avril wasn’t even alive! But still, she could have heard it when she was in her teens when the girl version of the song came out. In the early 90’s, another artist by the name of lush came out with the song, “I wanna be your Girlfriend”. So you’re asking, why isn’t she being sued as well? Well, there is a major difference! Lush actually gave credit to The Roobinoos and Avril did not.

Avril gave credit to herself and her co-writer. Thus, leaving no choice for The Roobinoos to get royalty from her. The main reason why Avril’s song is a great success is because she basically copied the catchy lines from The Roobinoos. Avrils lyrics, (“Hey! Hey! You! You! I don’t like your girlfriend! No way! No way! I think you need a new one Hey! Hey! You! You! I could be your girlfriend”). The Roobinoos lyrics, (“Hey, You, I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend Trying to say I wanna be your number one Hey, You, I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend Gonna make you love me before I'm done”).

Final Question:
Is Avril really guilty of plagiarizing the song from the Roobinoos? If so what is she guilty of plagiarizing?

Work Cited:
http://www.lyricstime.com/the-rubinoos-i-wanna-be-your-boyfriend-lyrics.html

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/07/06/i-wanna-be-your-boyfriend-v-girlfriend/

http://backtorockville.typepad.com/back_to_rockville/2007/07/avril-lavigne-v.html

http://www.a-lyric.com/archives/the-rubinoos-vs-avril-lavigne-ouch/