Scandalous

I heard awhile back about Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" plagiarism scandal, and thought I would do some reading up on it, just because I happen to adore Coldplay and am not fond of the idea of them plagiarising a song.
So I did a little research, and it turns out that Joe Santriani has accused Coldplay of stealing parts of his song, "If I Could Fly". I listened to the song a few times, just to be sure, and I can't deny that the choruses of both songs are very similar, and other parts sound close if you're really listening for it. That's about a good as it gets, though.
There is also another band, Creaky Boards, who has decided to accuse Coldplay of stealing their song, as well. Apparently, Chris Martin was at a Creaky Boards gig in Brooklyn, where they performed their supposedly stolen song. Funny thing is, Coldplay was not only in recording in England at the time of the gig, but they had demoed "Viva La Vida" months before. Odd.
And then I stumbled upon this song and, if you listen to the instrumentals, it is also similar. Now, this song happens to come from some little French pop band, Alizee, and their song was released before Santriani's.
My point? There are only so many notes you can play and only so many ways you can arrange them. Similarities are bound to happen, and I'm not going to say who's innocent or guilty. But this is just what I found.