Copyright

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

What are some songs that got the writer into copyright trouble? And whose "version" of the song do you like better?

― Mark, Sunday, 28 April 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

(This question came to mind because I was playing "My Sweet Lord" one afternoon and an hour or so later my girlfriend was singing "He's so fine" to herself -- and she didn't even know Harrison got sued for it! She didn't know why the song was in her head, actually.)

― Mark, Sunday, 28 April 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

there was a legal squabble about ghostbusters and i want a new drug.... and that de la / turtles thing. probably lots of rap infringements before the lawyers took control

― Ron, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Didn't Harrison buy the rights to "He's So Fine"? I like "My Sweet Lord" a lot more, havta say...

There was the infamous case of John Fogerty getting sued by his old record label because "Old Man Down the Road" (his first hit from his comeback album, Centerfield) sounded too much like a CCR song (I think it was "Green River"; anyway, he wrote BOTH songs).

― Joe, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

It was "Run Through The Jungle," and the lawsuit was the first thing that made me realize that 1) record companies and 2) modern concepts of copyright both suck.

(Oh, oh. I think I've just called up the Great Floating Copyright Holy War again....)

― Christine "Green Leafy Dragon" Indigo, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

probably lots of rap infringements before the lawyers took control

But then they couldn't have been considered infringements back then now could they?

― Clarke B., Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

"Simon Says" with the GODZILLA theme.

― Honda, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Otis Redding had to give up the songwriting credit on 'Pain In My Heart', cos it copied Irma Thomas' 'Ruler of My Heart'. there's another Otis song this happened to, but i forget which one

― michael, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" saw them get bitten for 100% of the royalties from the Rolling Stones. So... yeah.

― Judd Nelson, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

haha, they deserved that totally for using the whole of the Andrew Loog Oldham track. and Allen Klein's not known for generosity.

― michael, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

I never like to miss an opportunity to say: "DIE! DIE, MARK COHN!"

― Jeff W, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Radiohead have to share the rights for "Creep" with The Hollies because of its marked similarity to "The Air That I Breathe".

― Melissa W, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

The Stranglers' Grip & Benny Hill's Ernie have very similar sounding verses. Come to think of it, Elastica had that run in with The Stranglers over Waking Up.

― Jez, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

9 years pass...

This is insane--this guy made a chiptune cover album based on "Kind of Blue", and got slammed (to the tune of over $30,000) for the pixelated album cover art:

http://waxy.org/2011/06/kind_of_screwed/

― geeta, Thursday, 23 June 2011 18:20 (1 year ago) Permalink

But this is important: the fact that I settled is not an admission of guilt. My lawyers and I firmly believe that the pixel art is "fair use" and Maisel and his counsel firmly disagree. I settled for one reason: this was the least expensive option available.

this makes me so frustrated and angry. there are young lawyers out there who say that they're dying to work on a case like this pro bono, precisely because they want to go down in history as the ones who argued the breakthrough fair use case. but you only ever hear about these decisions after people have been crushed and forced to settle out of court for tens of thousands.

― Milton Parker, Thursday, 23 June 2011 18:40 (1 year ago) Permalink

How is the following definition of parody in fair use guidelines not exactly what the artist did?

Parody

A parody is a work that ridicules another, usually well-known work, by imitating it in a comic way. Judges understand that, by its nature, parody demands some taking from the original work being parodied. Unlike other forms of fair use, a fairly extensive use of the original work is permitted in a parody in order to “conjure up” the original.

― Have not gotten over my dancing phase (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 23 June 2011 19:04 (1 year ago) Permalink

Wow. The photographer who sued him lives in a palatial 72-room, 35,000-square-foot, six-story house in Manhattan:

http://nymag.com/realestate/vu/2008/09/50481/

― geeta, Thursday, 23 June 2011 19:10 (1 year ago) Permalink

I'm also intrigued by his "where would you draw the line" query. Left column second from bottom is still vaguely recognizable if you squint, but so far removed from the original that any sane judge/jury would hopefully tell Maisel to take a hike.

― Have not gotten over my dancing phase (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 23 June 2011 20:16 (1 year ago) Permalink

This is really bumming me out. I love Kind of Bloop.

― polyphonic, Thursday, 23 June 2011 20:19 (1 year ago) Permalink

did this get a physical release with an actual cover or was he sued over a jpg?

― herbal bert (herb albert), Thursday, 23 June 2011 20:22 (1 year ago) Permalink

I think it was a download-only release. But he did charge for it.

― polyphonic, Thursday, 23 June 2011 20:26 (1 year ago) Permalink

He charged for it ($5) but Amazon gets a cut (because they handle the payment through their system) and Miles Davis' label/company/whatever gets a cut, and he's giving whatever money that's left to the people who made the covers

― geeta, Thursday, 23 June 2011 20:39 (1 year ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

Fascinating article on how Springsteen and others are soon eligible to recover ownership of their recordings

Are recording artists independent contractors or label employees?

Are recordings works for hire owned by the labels or the property of the artists?

And then there's this question which has been on the table for decades: "Do record producers, session musicians and studio engineers also qualify as “authors” of a recording, entitled to a share of the rights after they revert?"

And I love this remarkable quote: “I’ve had the date circled in red for 35 years, and now it’s time to move,” said Rick Carnes, who is president of the Songwriters Guild of America and has written hits for country artists like Reba McEntire and Garth Brooks.

― Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, 16 August 2011 00:50 (1 year ago) Permalink

"How the Legal Fight Over 'YMCA' could Change the Music Industry"

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/how-legal-fight-ymca-could-224469

― geeta, Thursday, 18 August 2011 20:10 (1 year ago) Permalink

3 weeks pass...

this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14829373

― geeta, Friday, 9 September 2011 00:17 (1 year ago) Permalink

11 months pass...

a big piece i wrote for wired on your new copyright bot overlords:

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/09/streaming-videos-robotic-overlords-algorithmic-copyright-cops/

― geeta, Thursday, 6 September 2012 16:36 (9 months ago) Permalink