The Joe Satriani vs. Coldplay bout is moving past vague innuendos and promises of lawsuits into a possible courtroom showdown. It's unlikely that Coldplay won't settle before a trial, but if they don't, there's a strong chance that the myriad of YouTube commenters who rushed to videos compairing Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" to Satriani's "I I Could Fly" could be called to the stand to testify about the similarities between the songs.

It's unclear who would benefit from YouTube commenters testifying, but either side could use them to their advantage. Coldplay's attorneys could claim that these people can't really say for sure that the songs are similar, and Satriani's attorneys could say that they proved the songs similarities.

On YouTuber in particular has been mentioned; a guitar teacher who made two videos breaking down the songs in his studio. I bet getting called to testify would make that dude's life. [Music Radar]