Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has dismissed a plagiarism lawsuit the band is battling - insisting it drives him to write even better songs.

The band are being sued by guitarist Joe Satriani who claims his song If I Could Fly inspired their hit 'Viva La Vida', but Martin is refusing to take the attack lying down.

He wrote on the band's website, "Some people are suing us at the moment and although it was initially a bit depressing, now it's become really inspiring.

"You think, 'Right, if everyone's trying to take away our best song, then we'd better write 25 better ones.' And so just at the point where I was thinking about getting fat and becoming complacent, I've been finding more inspiration. Now we've got more to prove than ever before."

Satriani isn't the only musician claiming Viva La Vida is a rip-off - Yusuf Islam alleges the track borrows elements from his 1973 song 'Foreigner Suite'.

(by Daniel Melia)