"Girlfriend" has been accused a plagiarism to pop band The Rubinoos' claim-to-fame single "I Wanna be Your Boyfriend" (1979). Within the lyrics of Rubinoos' song is "Hey ارے آپ you, I wanna be your boyfriend" while in Avril's lyric there's "Hey ارے آپ you, I want to be your girlfriend".
Songwriters to "I Wanna be Your Boyfriend", Tommy Dunbar and James Gangwer filed a lawsuit at California’s Nothern Federal District Court. Avril's production company Avril Lavigne Publishing and co-writer Dr. Luke have both been specified as the defendants.
While The Rubinoos failed to make a comment, Avril's manager Terry McBride gave a full defense that the Canadian singer is not a copy cat. McBride said, “This is a song she’d never heard of that was a minor hit before she was born. This is a stretch and there is no basis for it.”
He continued that the word "Hey You" has been used in many songs and therefore he's confident that Avril's side is "strong". He added, "We’ll look at the cost to defend versus the cost to settle, and we’ll make a decision at that time.”
Musicologists have been sat down to hear both songs and the experts rules out plagiarism. McBride then concludes that it's only a form of "legal blackmail".
This isn't the only accusal case that Avril faces. Long time collaborator Chantal Kreviazuk also slammed her in using the track "Contagious" without her permission. Kreviazuk fumed, "I sent her a song two years پہلے called 'Contagious,' and I just saw the track listing to (The Best Damn Thing) and there's a song called 'Contagious' on it and my name's not on it. What do آپ do with that?"
Kreviazuk is particularly doubting Avril's credibility to write a song alone but once again Avril's manager came to her rescue سے طرف کی saying that Avril is a "collaborative writer". Meanwhile, "Contagious" co-writer Evan Taubenfield made it clear سے طرف کی saying, "We originally wrote it for me, so there's no way Chantal was involved. I can't speak on her song یا any claims she's making about our song because I've never heard hers."
