Avril Lavigne Sued Over "Girlfriend"

"Hey! Hey! You! You! I don't like your girlfriend/ No way no way/ I think you need a new one," sings Canadian born punk-rocker Avril Lavigne from her smash hit "Girlfriend." A smashed hit is about all she's going to get if 1970's band Rubinoos have their say. The soft-rock group has filed a lawsuit against Lavigne for copywrite infrigement.

Tommy Dunbar and James Gangwer of the band Rubinoos filed a lawsuit July 2nd against Lavigne's hit single "Girlfriend" over a lyric they believe was stolen from them without permission. In Avril's song, she sings "Hey! Hey! You! You! I don't like your girlfriend," a similar lyric to the bands 1979 hit "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend." The suit is filed against her, her writing partner Dr Luke (Lukas Gottwald), and Avril Lavigne Publishing. However, the song also sings "Hey! Hey! You! You! I know that you like me."

On a blog on her official website that has been since pulled just days after the release of the lawsuit, Lavigne stated: "You may have heard some news that two guys who wrote for some band from the 1970s I have never in my life heard of called the "Rubinoos" are trying to sue me. They have a song called 'I Want To Be Your Boyfriend' that has no musical similarities to the song 'Girlfriend' that Luke Gottwald and I wrote together. They claim that a small part of the lyrics are the same and are saying that I took these from them. I had never heard this song in my life and their claim is based on five words! All songs share similar lyrics and emotions. As humans we speak one language. Off the top of my head, two other songs that I can immediately think of with this type of lyric are 'Hey, hey, you, you get off of my cloud' by the Rolling Stones and 'Hey little girl I want to be your boyfriend' by the Ramones. Simply put, I have been falsely accused of ripping their song off. Luke and I have done nothing wrong and there is no merit to their claim."