Michael Jackson "This is It" is Paul Anka's "This is It"

Michael Jackson's new song, "This Is It," which just so happens to be the title of the upcoming documentary of the preparations for his so-called final tour (also called "This Is It"), seems to have gotten off to a start much in keeping with the King of Pop's life -- amid controversy. "This Is It" hit the internet at midnight on October 11 and no sooner was Michael Jackson's newest song filling the air than it was being shot down by a former collaborator and a bona fide music legend -- Paul Anka. Paul Anka said that "This Is It" was a pure rip-off of a song both he and Michael Jackson wrote in 1983, just with a different name. And he's threatened to sue Michael Jackson's estate.

Paul Anka told TMZ that back in 1983, he and Michael Jackson wrote a song together called "I Never Heard." He also said that the song was recorded at his studio in Carmel, California. Paul Anka said that while he was finishing a duets album called "Walk A Fine Line," Michael Jackson was becoming the man of the moment with "Thriller." Jackson, he said, got a "big head" and "stole the tapes" from his studio.

Anka said he subsequently sued and got the demo tapes back. Anka told TMZ that he was sure that Michael Jackson had made copies. The singer of such hits as "Diana" and "Put Your Head On My Shoulder" said that he gave the song to Safire, who recorded it in 1990.

"This Is It" is simply the same song with a different title, Anka claimed.

And it didn't take long for John Branca to admit that Paul Anka was absolutely correct in that he had co-written the song. John Branca, who represented both Michael Jackson and Paul Anka back when the legal fight over the demo tapes occurred, told TMZ that Michael Jackson's estate acknowledged that "Michael and Paul wrote this song together." He also acknowledged that they were in negotiations with Paul Anka's lawyer. Earlier, John McClain, the other overseer of Michael Jackson's estate, told Anka that they would work with him to give him whatever it took to "do the right thing" in the deal.

Two hours later, TMZ announced that a settlement had been reached and Paul Anka was to get 50% of the publishing rights to "This Is It." He gets other rights to profits that normally accrue to the song as well.

Protecting one's creations from exploitation by others without proper or agreed upon compensation is something the public hears about occasionally through the filing of a lawsuit by the injured party. Back in December, guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani, now with Chickenfoot, sued Coldplay because of the similarity in their songs "Viva La Vida" and "If I Could Fly," the latter being Satriani's 2004 instrumental that predated Coldplay's release by four years. Coldplay denied they had lifted any of Joe Satriani's music. Satriani said it was too close not to have been plagiarism and sued for copyright infringement.

But Joe Satriani wasn't the only one who thought Coldplay had stolen some of their music. The Creaky Boards posted a YouTube video earlier in 2008 showing the similarities between their own song, "The Songs I Didn't Write" (a title deserving an award for prescience, it seems) and "Viva La Vida."

But if holding off two artists that believe their song was unoriginal wasn't bad enough, Coldplay would suffer the further indignity of being sued by the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, who now goes by the name Yusuf Islam. Islam told Reuters in May that his son had brought the similarities of "Viva La Vida" and his song "Foreigner Suite" to his attention, and he agreed that they were remarkably similar. When asked if he would sue Coldplay as well, Yusuf Islam said he would wait to see how Joe Satriani's case went.

Coldplay stands to take a considerable financial loss if the case is adjudicated against them. "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" was the best selling album of 2008 and has sold over 8.1 million albums worldwide. But an unfavorable decision also smears their image and credibility as creative artists.

Although Yusuf is taking an aloof approach, there is no wait-and-see going on in the Paul Anka camp. Of course, Paul Anka's case seemed a bit more of a case of it's-mine-and-his-and-I-can-prove-it, so adopting a let's-see-what-develops stance probably never entered the legal picture.

Paul Anka went from being "ripped off" to half owner of a song -- and rightfully so -- in roughly 20 hours Monday, depending on when Paul Anka first heard the song and recognized it as his. Being the creative guy that he his, Anka will probably sing every other "This Is It" as "This Is His."

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Sources:

TMZ.com
Reuters.com
FindingDulcinea.com