Joe Satriani is suing Coldplay for plagarism.

[Dincrest]

What was the final verdict in the case, provided there was one?

Anyway, since we're still talking about it, that Coldplay song often plays at the gym I go to, and every time it comes on I giggle a little bit thinking about the Satch case. 

[GrimReality]

I have never understood how you either have to be a fan of a band or not. I like numerous Coldplay songs, but I dislike even more. The first 2 albums bored me. X & Y has a lot of great songs on it. I have yet to purchase their new one due to that stupid Viva La Vida song.
I HATE generalizations. I do not like the band Coldplay, but I DO like 'Speed of Sound', 'Fix You', 'Clocks' and so forth.
Anyway...
I have a couple Satriani albums. Mostly boring stuff without any real "soul" to it
I have one Eric Johnson cd. Good stuff.
I shouldn't comment on the ever-present "metal" talk, but most anything beyond hard rock is unlistenable to me. I'd like to be able to understand what the singer is saying for one. Plus, I think it's great someone can play a guitar really fast, but it does nothing for me. I'll take a good melody any day. Perhaps I'm just lacking in metal knowledge.

[D-Rider]

What was the final verdict in the case, provided there was one?

I think I read the other day that the various members of Coldplay are being pretty evasive about this case.  Satch's lawyer was talking about serving them their papers at the fucking Grammys themselves.

[Dincrest]

So no final word yet, eh?  As I said before, I really don't think Satch has much of a case.  That melody sounds like it's been used in hundreds of songs before and the fact that the Coldplay song has lyrics may be enough to differentiate it.  I don't know squat about that kind of music trademark/copyright law, though. 

EDIT: Listen to this Cat Stevens song.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=uUXda-RTE_c
 At 3:15 it has a version of that chord progression/melody in question as well.  And I'm sure some other melodist used it before he did.  This whole Satch vs. Coldplay is a silly case regardless of how you feel about each artist.  That figure's been used in tons of songs.  

TANGENT:  It's interesting how bands within one genre's umbrella can sound so different; different enough to warrant subgenres.  The Arcade Fire, Coldplay, and Sonic Youth are all considered alt-rock (alternative-rock) bands, yet they're all different.  Although Suspyre and Suffocation are both metal bands, one is a symphonic/prog metal band favoring soaring melodies and sung vocals; whereas the other is a brutal death metal band favoring skull-crushing riffs and guttural vocals.  And metal has so many subgenres, it makes my head spin.