Reminds me of that controversy 8 years ago with Joe Satriani and Coldplay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb49QuPLuHgThe Coldplay song came out in 2008 and the Satriani song came out in 2004.
Then again, that too is a pretty common chord progression. I think there was a 1970s Cat Stevens song that had that progression in the bridge.
And like I said in a previous post, Iron Maiden predates FF and TitS with that sinister chord progression and I'll bet some classical music piece predates all of that.