A judge has denied Nickelback’s motion to dismiss a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against the band last October over their 2005 hit “Rockstar.”
Judge Susan Hightower of the U.S. District Court in Austin, Texas wrote in her Aug. 11th decision: "Having listened to the works at issue, the Court finds that it is possible for a reasonable juror to determine that the works share protectable elements.”
In his lawsuit against Nickelback, Kirk Johnston alleged “Rockstar” is substantially similar to “Rock Star,” a song recorded by his former band Snowblind Revival in 2001. The tracks, he claimed, share “tempo, song form, melodic structure, harmonic structures and lyrical themes.”
Johnston alleged Nickelback had access to his “Rock Star” via record companies who were given copies of the track.
Judge Hightower noted that “whether Johnston will be able to produce evidence that these similarities rise to the level of ‘substantial’ or ‘striking’ in view of the Nickelback Defendants' level of access is yet to be determined.”
Nickelback had sought to dismiss Johnston’s lawsuit because, it argued, “fundamentally, the works at issue are not substantially similar to an ordinary observer.”
This past weekend, Johnston posted a comparison of the tracks on YouTube: