The Rolling Stones were served with a copyright lawsuit pertaining to their 2020 single “Living In A Ghost Town.”
According to Billboard, the song’s writers Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are named in the lawsuit filed by Sergio Garcia Fernandez on March 10. Fernandez claims in the lawsuit “Living In A Ghost Town” lifts “many of the recognizable and key protected elements” of two of his songs.
The plaintiff claims he gave a demo CD featuring these two songs to a close family member of Jagger. Billboard notes Fernandez’s legal team wrote in the lawsuit, “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.” Despite claims of the email, a copy of it was not included in the lawsuit filing.
Jagger, Richards nor any of their reps have commented publically about the lawsuit.
The Stones released “Living In A Ghost Town” in April 2020 during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. At the time, Jagger said in a statement about the song that the band was working on it before lockdown. The band released it as a stand-alone single because, ” … we thought [it] would resonate through the times we’re living in.”
