Veteran American rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers (RHCP) are reportedly considering taking legal action against British pop singer Diana Vickers over a copyright infringement issue.
The work in question is Vickers’ latest single, My Wicked Heart, which she performed live on last weekend’s X Factor (on which she was once a contestant) results show. Representative for the Chili Peppers are claiming that the song sounds similar to the chorus on one of their most famous tracks, Under the Bridge (1996).
In a recent interview with Digital Spy, Vickers even admitted the similarity between the two songs but made the decision to leave her track as it was. She said:
“We had the song and it didn’t have the ‘My Wicked Heart’ bit in it and then we put the vocal in and we were like, ‘Why does it sound so familiar?’”
“Then we realised it was because we were listening to Under The Bridge the day before,”
Vickers was also asked if she was worried about a potential copyright infringement lawsuit. She replied:
“That doesn’t even faze me. It’s only a tiny snippet and it’s not even the same chords. It’s very different at the same time. Although there’s a similarity which I do really see, it’s literally for about ten seconds. I think I can sort of get away with it.”
If RHCP goes ahead with the lawsuit against Vickers for not asking permission to borrow from Under the Bridge and win, the popstar’s record label will need to have a sound professional indemnity insurance policy in place in order to cover any potentially expensive damage payments.