Kirk Johnston: Celebs Rumors

A magistrate judge in a court in Texas has recommended that a song-theft lawsuit against Nickelback be dismissed, because the plaintiff’s explanation for how the band might have had access to his earlier track is insufficient.Kirk Johnston, vocalist with the band Snowblind Revival, went legal in 2020, claiming that Nickelback’s 2005 track ‘Rockstar’ ripped off a song he had written with the same title four years earlier.Unsurprisingly, the members of Nickelback – who deny having ever heard of the earlier song or Snowblind Revival before Johnston went legal – called for the song-theft lawsuit to be dismissed.But magistrate judge Susan Hightower, when initially considering the case, said that she wasn’t convinced there were grounds for dismissal.Though, she added at the time, the credibility of Johnston’s theory for how Nickelback might have accessed the earlier song was still to be determined. That would depend on what evidence he could provide to back up his claim that his song had likely reached Nickelback via some record label execs he had played it to.If the evidence backing up that theory was strong, she went on, there were sufficient similarities between the two ‘Rockstar’ songs for Johnston’s claims of copyright infringement to go before a jury.However, Hightower says in a new written opinion on the case published last week, Johnston has failed to provide good evidence to back up his grand theory.

A US judge last week dismissed a song theft lawsuit filed against Nickelback, following the earlier recommendation of a magistrate judge who said that the plaintiff in the case had failed to sufficiently back up his theory for how the band had accessed the earlier song.Kirk Johnston, vocalist with the band Snowblind Revival, went legal in 2020, claiming that Nickelback’s 2005 track ‘Rockstar’ ripped off a song he had written with the same title four years earlier.The band then called for the lawsuit to be dismissed on the basis they’d never heard of the earlier song or Snowblind Revival before Johnston went legal.However, magistrate judge Susan Hightower initially said she wasn’t convinced there were grounds for dismissal, though that was assuming Johnston could produce evidence that supported his claim that Nickelback might have had access to his song via their label.But, alas, that evidence was not forthcoming. And as a result Hightower last month recommended the case be dismissed, stating that “Johnston has presented no probative evidence that defendants had a reasonable opportunity to hear plaintiff’s work”.District judge Robert Pitman last week confirmed he was following Hightower’s recommendation.

Nickelback have filed new papers with the court in their ongoing song-theft legal battle with Kirk Johnston – vocalist with the band Snowblind Revival – who claims that their 2006 track ‘Rockstar’ ripped off his earlier song ‘Rock Star’.Last month the band failed to get Johnston’s lawsuit dismissed, with the judge concluding that there were sufficient similarities between the two ‘Rockstar’ songs that a jury might conclude that copyright infringement had occurred.

Nickelback should face a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement in relation to their 2005 track ‘Rockstar’.The infringement lawsuit was initially filed in a US District Court in Texas by Kirk Johnston, a former member of the band Snowblind Revival. The suit lists the members of Nickelback, their former label Roadrunner, publisher Warner Chappell and touring promoter Live Nation as defendants.

Nickelback have failed to have a song-theft lawsuit that was filed against them dismissed. However, the judge overseeing the case has recommended the removal of Live Nation as a co-defendant.The judge said dismissal wasn’t justified at this point because it was “possible” that a jury would agree that there are sufficient similarities between the band’s song ‘Rockstar’ and an earlier song called ‘Rock Star’ to constitute copyright infringement.Kirk Johnston, vocalist with the band Snowblind Revival, sued last year, claiming that Nickelback had ripped off his song when they wrote their ‘Rockstar’.