Avril drags Apple into lawsuit

Avril Lavigne is being sued by Tommy Dunbar and James Gangwer, who reckon that her single Girlfriend seemed ookily like their 1979 single I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend. Avril's people are denying it, with the sheen of science:

The pop star's manager Terry McBride has had musicologists study the two singles and denies any wrong doing by the Canadian singer, commenting: "Avril's a great song writer and she's proving it over and over and over again."

He added: "Avril's very, very sensible. She knows music well. If the chords had been similar, the melodies had been similar, lyrics had been similar, the meter, she would have gone, 'Okay, I can see their point.' But nothing's similar."

Really? Avril would have responded to a lawsuit by conceding its central claim, would she?

Apple will be hoping that Avril is sensible - they've been dragged into the lawsuit on the basis that they sold the track and, uh, something. Which seems weak to us - are record shops supposed to compare every track they sell with every other track that's ever been made?