Rammstein are being sued by French act Ninja Cyborg who say German giants stole the riff for Deutschland

Rammstein 2009 — (Image credit: Press/Paul Harries)

Rammstein are being sued by French group Ninja Cyborg who say the German metal giants' track Deutschland plagiarises their song The Sunny Road.

According to Day FR Euro, Ninja Cyborg have filed papers in the Paris Court of Appeal after an earlier claim was thrown out in 2021. The appeal cites legal music expert Richard Dubugnon, who says that Rammstein "voluntarily borrowed the riff and other melodic elements" from The Sunny Road and added that there are “too many similarities" and that it is "without a doubt" plagiarism.

Fans of Rammstein had previously accused Ninja Cyborg of stealing the idea from the German band, but the French act's song was released in 2018 – the year before Deutschland appeared as the opening track on Rammstein's 2019 self-titled album.

In response to the accusations from Rammstein fans in 2020, Ninja Cyborg's Marc Botté said at the time: "I don’t like Rammstein and I don’t listen to this group. I created that riff. I knew very well that I hadn’t plagiarised them.”

Botté added that when Rammstein fans pointed out the similarities, he initially thought he might have written a similar riff to an old Rammstein track by chance. It was when the band learned their song had been released before Rammstein's that they decided to take legal action.

As they launch their legal appeal, Ninja Cyborg tell Le Nouvel Obs: "We want this piece to be recognized as ours and that we no longer spend our lives as artists perpetually justifying ourselves,"

The case is due to be heard before the Intellectual Property Chamber of the Paris Judicial Court in September.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.