Avril Lavigne Sued For Plagiarism; Singer Accused Of Stealing ‘Girlfriend’

July 5th, 2007 by Castina

Avril Lavigne is being sued by songwriters who claim that her mega hit `Girlfriend’ sounds a little too much like their seventies chart-topper ‘I Wanne Be Your Boyfriend.’

The Rubinoos’ founder, Tommy Dunbar, filed the suit in California’s Northern Federal District Court and also names Lavigne’s publishing company Avril Lavigne Publishing and Lavigne’s songwriting partner Dr. Luke as defendants.

What's Hot at PopCrunch?

11 Comments, add yours

11 Responses to “Avril Lavigne Sued For Plagiarism; Singer Accused Of Stealing ‘Girlfriend’”

On July 7th 2007, Stephanie wrote:

Does anyone else think this ridiculous? I think everyone is just being very closed minded about all this. Yes, they sound similar, but so do a lot of other songs. I don’t think that she would copy them, if anything I think that she may have heard that awful song and those lyrics poped in her head when she was writing. This would have never been heard of if the Rubinoos hadn’t brought it up so how would she have even heard of them? They have no talent and that’s why they are finding an alternative to get money. She didn’t steal anything.
On July 7th 2007, McIntyre wrote:

Are you kidding Steph? She changed like, 2 words. I say sue the hell out of her.
On July 10th 2007, Deja wrote:

THIS IS SOOOOOO FUCKIN STUPID the sounds sound NOTHING alike im telling you this boyband SCUKS LIKE FUCK and there only tryin to get avrils money avril do ur thang jus cuz this boyband is PLAYED OUT and NO ONE likes them dosnt mean they have to try and sue somone that everyone likes like holy even look heres da lyrics to der lame ass song :Hey, little girl
I wanna be your boyfriend
Sweet little girl
I wanna be your boyfriend
Do you love me babe?
What do you say?
Do you love me babe?
What can I say?
Because I wanna be your boyfriend

HOW THE FUCK IS THAT AND AVRILS SONG THE SAME???

NOW HERES THE LYRICS TO AVRILS SONG GIRLFRIEND:
[Chorus]
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

Hey! Hey! You! You!
I know that you like me
No way! No way!
You know it’s not a secret
Hey! Hey! You! You!
I want to be your girlfriend

[Verse 1]
You’re so fine
I want you mine
You’re so delicious
I think about ya all the time
You’re so addictive
Don’t you know what I could do to make you feel alright?
Don’t pretend I think you know I’m damn precious
And Hell Yeah
I’m the motherfucking princess
I can tell you like me too and you know I’m right

[Bridge:]
She’s like so whatever
And you could do so much better
I think we should get together now
And that’s what everyone’s talking about!

[Chorus:]
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

Hey! Hey! You! You!
I know that you like me
No way! No way!
You know it’s not a secret
Hey! Hey! You! You!
I want to be your girlfriend

[Verse 2]
I can see the way, I see the way you look at me
And even when you look away I know you think of me
I know you talk about me all the time again and again
So come over here, tell me what I want to hear
Better yet make your girlfriend disappear
I don’t want to hear you say her name ever again
(And again and again and again!)

[Bridge]

[Chorus]

Hey! Hey! You! You!
I know that you like me
No way! No way!
You know it’s not a secret
Hey! Hey! You! You!
I want to be your girlfriend

In a second you’ll be wrapped around my finger
Cause I can, cause I can do it better
There’s no other
So when’s it gonna sink in?
She’s so stupid
What the hell were you thinking?!
[repeat]

[Chorus]

THESE LYRICS ARE COMPLETLY DIFFERENT THE RAMONES OR W.E SUCK LIKE HELL AND THEY NEED TO GET A FUCKIN LIFE AVRIL DO UR THING I SUPPORT YOU 100%
On July 10th 2007, Deja wrote:

i think those are the wrong lyrics fr the boyband but i listen to their song nd it SUCKS anyways so who cares bout the lyrics
On July 11th 2007, laura wrote:

she sould be leted go a leave the dome song an leave here alone and dont be stuped and let here free
On July 17th 2007, Joelle wrote:

i dont believe she would steal lyrics. so what it sounds kinda the same! those guys just want money
On July 22nd 2007, rylee wrote:

DEJA- she is NOT being sued by the Ramones– she is being sued by the Rubinoos–totally different band. And while the lyrics are not exactly the same, they are very similar and the two melodies are almost identical–the chorus only varies by a couple of notes and a few syllables. I would say the Rubinoos have a VERY good case–regardless of whether or not Avrill’s intentions were to steal the song.

Check out this audio comparison of girlfriend over the top of the Rubinoos “I wanna be your boyfriend”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEsokso8Bf8

And these are the correct lyrics from the Rubinoos Chorus:
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
On July 22nd 2007, rylee wrote:

LAURA- I hope English is not your first language.
On September 3rd 2007, Maxx wrote:

Haha. Why do people say it’s the artist who writes the songs? I work in the music industry myself and I can honestly say record labels don’t like bad press so they secretly use this claim to make sure its the artist who gets the blame if songs are copied from earlier groups. Avril is innocent.
But the Rubinoos aren’t as innocent as they make out.

Maybe Girlfriend sound’s like Boyfriend but if you actually read up and listen to boyfriend it turns out:

‘Boyfriend’ by the Rubinoos copied
‘Hey, hey, you, you get off of my cloud’ by the Rolling Stones &
‘Hey little girl I want to be your boyfriend’ by the Ramones

so really the Rubinoos should lay off or it will be them who get sued.
On October 1st 2007, Tyra wrote:

OH MY MOTHER FUCKEN GOD!THOSE SONGS SOUND NOTHING ALIKE!THE RUBINOOS ARE DUMBASSES!IVE NEVER EVEN HEARD OF THEM THATS HOW LAME THEY ARE CUZ I LISTEN TO EVERY SONG EVR MADE AND IVE NEVER HEARD THAT SONG AND IF THEY DID STEAL THOSE LYRICS FROM THE ROLLING STONES AND THE RAMONES LIKE MAXX SAY THEY NEED TO LAY OFF AVRIL!THEY ARE JUST DOIN THIS TO GET THE ATTENTION THEY NEVER GOT BEFORE SO AVRIL JUST CALL ME AND ILL GO OVER AND BEAT THAT LAME ASS BOYBAND!WITH THEY OLD ASSES
On January 4th 2008, Shalinee wrote:

omg! this is so fuckin’ stupid! its total bullshit! like avril said, shes never even heard of the band or the song. plus the stupid band is basing their claim on three words! these assholes just want money and attention ’cause their stupid fuckin’ old farts.