The Rammstein tube, Germanyreleased in 2019 plagiarized the song’s guitar riff The Sunny Road of the French group NinjA Cyborg, according to the conclusions on March 27, of a legal musical expertise.
No, NinjA Cyborg did not plagiarize Rammstein, as fans of the German rock band claimed, the opposite happened.
This was demonstrated by a judicial musical expertise, which concluded this Wednesday, March 27, that the German group “voluntarily borrowed the riff and other melodic elements from Sunny RoadIn Germany“.
No chance encounters
The musical expert at the Paris Court of Appeal, Richard Dubugnon, estimated that “no chance meeting” could be accepted due to “too many similarities” and that Rammstein had “without a doubt” committed plagiarism. , indicates a press release from PHI Avocats.
The “resemblances are indeed the result of a voluntary loan”, further indicates the expert.
The two pieces indeed have significant similarities, particularly in the guitar riff. “Rammstein deliberately borrowed the riff and other melodic elements from Sunny Roadin Deutschland, estimates judicial musical expertise.
The title of the French group was released in 2018, and that of Rammstein a few months later in 2019. Germany is taken from the album Rammsteinpublished in May 2019.
Dismissed at first instance
Since 2020, Marc Botté and Martin Antiphon, members of NinjA Cyborg, have received messages from fans highlighting the resemblance between their titles and accusing them of being the plagiarizers.
“I don’t like Rammstein and I don’t listen to this group,” Marc Botté told Obs. “I created that riff. I knew very well that I hadn’t plagiarized them.”
The French group, which took legal action against Rammstein in 2021, was dismissed at first instance, before appealing. French justice finally appointed an independent expert in 2022, at the request of the French duo.
The case is, however, far from being concluded and this expertise will be used by the members of NinjA Cyborg during the first hearing before the intellectual property chamber of the Paris Judicial Court which will be held on September 10.
“We want this piece to be recognized as ours and that we no longer spend our lives as artists perpetually justifying ourselves,” the duo tells Obs.
The German group has mainly made headlines in recent months due to accusations of sexual assault against its frontman, Till Lindenmann. The German rock metal group announced in October the dates of its future concerts, including a visit to the Orange Vélodrome in Marseille on June 8, 2024.
