I always thought that the Police’s “Every Breath You Take”’s tune sounded like a rip-off of “More Than I Can Say”, which had been recently done by Leo Sayer, and much earlier by the Crickets.
Sorry... I YouTubed Sayer because it was intriguing. I just don’t hear it. I mean, they have somewhat similar voices (Sting’s is more saxy, while Sayer’s is more like a horn), and the refrain has a similar spacing between lyrics and musical response, but even that’s just borrowed from your basic blues, and there’s nothing I can find in common between Sayer’s melody and Sting’s. The chord structure... the verse pattern... the rhyme pattern... the stanza structure... the rhythm... the instrumentation... all different.
The closest I can find is the lyrical structure of what for Sting is a refrain and for Sayer is a bridge
Oh don’t you know I need you so
Oh tell me please I got to know
Do you mean to make me cry?
Am I just another guy?
Oh can’t you see
You belong to me
How my poor heart aches
With every step you take
And THAT is relating an 8-8-7-7 stanza with a 4-4-5-5 stanza!