The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have allegedly plagiarized their song "Living in a Ghost Town”

Rock band The Rolling Stones’ members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have been hit with a copyright lawsuit by little-known songwriter Sergio Garcia Fernandez who is alleging that they stole content from his track.

In the lawsuit, Fernandez claims that Jagger and Richards “misappropriated many of the recognizable and key protected elements” from his 2006 song “So Sorry” as well as his 2007 tune “Seed of God” in their song “Living in a Ghost Town” that was released in 2020.

Fernandez, whose stage name is Angelslang, claims the new song was created by stealing key features from his songs, including the “vocal melodies, the chord progressions, the drum beat patterns, the harmonica parts, the electric bass line parts, the tempos, and other key signatures” from “So Sorry” and the “harmonic and chord progression and melody” from “Seed of God.”

Fernandez even claims to have given a demo CD to “an immediate family member” of Jagger.

The lawsuit said: “The immediate family member … confirmed receipt … to the plaintiff via e-mail, and expressed that the musical works of the plaintiff and its style was a sound The Rolling Stones would be interested in using.”

However, the lawsuit did not include a copy of the supposed email.

“Defendants never paid plaintiff, nor secured the authorization for the use of ‘So Sorry’ and ‘Seed of God,’ the lawsuit said.

PitchMark recently covered a story about singer-songwriter Rick Astley who filed a lawsuit against rapper Yung Gravy for imitating his voice without permission in the hit song Betty (Get Money), which raised questions about what can legally be borrowed from older songs, even when certain licenses have been secured.

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