Chris Martin denies charge of plagiarism

Chris Martin (pictured), lead singer and songwriter of the pop band Coldplay, has been accused of plagiarism. Andrew Hoepfner, of the little known US combo Creaky Boards, claims the melody of Coldplay's song, Viva La Vida (the title tack of their latest album), is a direct pinch from a song he wrote last year called, ironically, The Songs I Didn't Write.

Hoepfner, who has made the accusation in a video posted on YouTube, believes Martin must have heard the song when he attended one of their concerts in New York last year. He says: "We were flattered when we thought we saw Chris Martin in the crowd. He seemed pretty into it... Maybe TOO into it?"

The clip, which was first posted on Sunday, rapidly went viral. By last night, it had been watched by nearly 300,000 people, and many have confirmed the similarities between the two compositions. Mindful of this, Coldplay, whose new album went straight to No 1 on Sunday, selling more than 300,000 copies in three days, have issued a vigorous denial.

"We totally refute their claims, and there are two facts that make it easy to disprove them," said a spokesman for the band. "First, on the night in October when the band say Chris Martin was watching them, he was actually working at the Air Studio in London, and we can prove that. Second, even if he had been at the gig, Viva la Vida was written and demoed seven months before the night in question, so it couldn't possibly have been copied."