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[VulcanRaven]

‘X-Men’ Cartoon’s Theme Song Sparks Lawsuit Against Marvel, Disney, Amazon, Apple & Others:

‘X-Men’ Cartoon’s Theme Song Sparks Lawsuit Against Marvel, Disney, Amazon, Apple & Others

Marvel, Disney, Amazon and Apple are being sued over the 'X-Man' cartoon series theme song, which the suit says was stolen a 1980s Hungarian TV show.

deadline.com

It’s been more than a quarter-century since the X-Men animated series invaded small screens — and 22 years since it ended — but a new copyright-infringement suit appears to suggest that the entire X-Men universe that has exploded into the zeitgeist wouldn’t have happened if not for that series’ theme song.

A Florida man is suing Marvel, Disney’s Buena Vista Television, Amazon, Apple, Haim Saban and others, claiming that the X-Men toon’s theme song was ripped off from a 1980s Hungarian TV series. Zoltan Krisko says he represents Gyorgy Vukan, the late composer of the theme song from Linda, a “comedy thriller” that aired from 1984-91 in the former Soviet Union satellite. According to the suit filed today in the Southern District of New York (read it here), “a household name in Hungary and an entire country could identify the series through its iconic soundtrack.”

Listen to the two theme songs below, and judge for yourself.

The suit says “the soundtrack of X-Men is widely regarded as the most iconic soundtrack of any animation series in the 1990s.” It claims that the X-Men theme song “is substantially similar to the theme song of Linda. It was the result of unauthorized copying of Vukan’s copyrighted work, with some minor alterations. … The subject, the tempo (pace), the harmonization and the sounding (instrumentation) is identical.”

Here’s the suit’s kicker: “The soundtrack of X-Men contributed in a substantial manner to the business success of the X-Men.” That, of course, includes the multibillion-dollar film franchise.

It sounds very similar. I'm a bit disappointed by this because I was hoping that Marvel might use it in the MCU X-Men movies. Like they used the Spider-Man theme from the old cartoon in Homecoming.

 

[Fbh]

I can definitely hear it.
But, to be fair, it's not exactly the most complex of compositions so I wouldn't find it mindblowing if 2 people came up with a similar theme

 

[haxan7]

The melody is almost identical

 

[JSoup]

I can definitely hear it.
But, to be fair, it's not exactly the most complex of compositions so I wouldn't find it mindblowing if 2 people came up with a similar theme

This.
I would expect a deeper dive to find more examples.

 

[Harlock]

This is a good time to remember how the modern Marvel movies has zero memorable theme songs.

 

[Teslerum]

What decade is it?

 

[Starlight Lotice]

Will they pay up or ignore them as they have better lawyers?

 

[magnifico]

seems like they should be maybe suing Whitney Houston's estate first ... especially at 1.25x playback speed

 

[Valonquar]

Remember when the MGS theme composer Tappi Iwase blatantly plagiarized Georgy Sviridov ? Hideo didn't know and got put on the spot during an interview. Can you imagine how pissed you'd be? They had to stop using the main theme afterward. IMHO they should have paid royalties to use the OG theme.

 

[NYR]

When I first heard the first few seconds, I thought “ah shit, here we go again”, another bullshit lawsuit and then of course, it kicks in seconds later. That shit was 100% stolen. Pay the man.

 

[NYR]

Remember when the MGS theme composer Tappi Iwase blatantly plagiarized Georgy Sviridov ? Hideo didn't know and got put on the spot during an interview. Can you imagine how pissed you'd be? They had to stop using the main theme afterward. IMHO they should have paid royalties to use the OG theme.

And we’ve never heard that theme attached to MGS since. A shame.

 

[Gargus]

He would be lucky if gets some shut up and go away money.

Not only is he decades late to this lawsuit but anyone who had anything to do with that show is long gone and now Disney owns the xmen stuff and they had absolutely nothing to do with it. Disney doesn't owe shit.

At best marvel might owe him money, but even that's a stretch because they still didn't actually make the cartoon. Even Saban is out of business now I think.

 

[Deleted member 738976]

"aired from 1984-91 in the former Soviet Union satellite"

You're not getting any money you commie bastards.

 

[GV82]

nvm

 

[The Wise Old Man]

Its a blatant rip off. Holy fuck, it’s like the Tappy scandal but we’re discovering it 20 something years later! Epic time delay scandal!

 

[bitbydeath]

How do we know Russia didn’t just travel back in time?

 

[GreatnessRD]

Still one of the greatest theme songs, ever. Gotta suck to be a kid today!

 

[VulcanRaven]

And we’ve never heard that theme attached to MGS since. A shame.

They did use it in the HD Collection. I'm glad they didn't remove it.

 

[Ar¢tos]

Forget the song, wth is Linda??
Looks so corny that I MUST watch it!

 

[mcjmetroid]

Ah I don't think it's that much of a ripoff. It has a very similar notes bit that's about it. The X-Men theme has plenty more to it.

I would say influenced for sure but not a straight up rip off.

Not sure this will get very far in court.

 

[mcz117chief]

I think it is just a coincidence. It reminds me of how I played "If My Heart Had Wings" recently and noticed that it has a song that is almost a carbon copy of one from Hearts of Iron 3 of all places. The songs are so similar it is really uncanny. I asked my brother about it, who is a musician, and he told me that stuff like this happens when you have a simple melody, and that it is impossible to make sure you never copied anyone ever. The more basic it gets the greater the likelihood of "copying" someone.

You can compare them yourself: Hearts of Iron 3 and If My Heart Had Wings

 

[Trojita]

That Japanese X-Men OP tho




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