RAMMSTEIN faces a lawsuit from the French synthwave group NINJA CYBORG, who accuses them of plagiarism. NINJA CYBORG alleges that RAMMSTEIN appropriated elements from their 2018 song “The Sunny Road” for their 2019 track “Deutschland”. Both songs can be listened to below.
As per a statement from Phi Avocats, the legal team representing NINJA CYBORG, a “musical expert” designated by the Paris Court of Appeal has validated NINJA CYBORG‘s claim. The initial court session for the lawsuit is scheduled for September 10th of this year.
Phi Avocast said in a statement: “The dispute stems from a debate sparked in 2020, when RAMMSTEIN fans accused NINJA CYBORG of plagiarizing their song ‘Deutschland’, released in 2019, with their song ‘Sunny Road’, nonetheless released several months before, in 2018.
“Three years later, the Paris Court of Appeal appointed musical expert has concluded that, on the contrary, RAMMSTEIN deliberately borrowed the riff and other melodic elements of ‘Sunny Road’, in ‘Deutschland‘ and that ‘no mere coincidence’ is possible, given the ‘too many similarities’, concluding that RAMMSTEIN has ‘without a doubt’ committed plagiarism.
“These conclusions were delivered on October 9th, 2023, by the expert.
“Wrongly accused of plagiarism, the members of NINJA CYBORG, supported by their publisher Music Unit can now rely on this expertise and the fact that the ‘similarities are indeed the result of voluntary borrowing’ to assert their rights before the Intellectual Property Chamber of the Paris Judicial Court.”
NINJA CYBORG released the following statement at the outset of their legal appeal: “We want this piece to be recognized as ours and that we no longer spend our lives as artists perpetually justifying ourselves.”
