Copyright infringement is a hot issue in the music industry today. There are countless cases in which similarities between musical compositions can result in lawsuits. I’m going to take a look at three recent issues as examples.
Robin Thick’s Blurred Lines is similar to Gaye’s “Got to Give it Up” and “Sexy Ways.” However, the music is not sampled or copied exactly. The case here is whether or not music inspired by other music is actually copyright infringement. To date copyright law has been used to protect the expression of ideas but not necessarily the ideas themselves. This case has the potential to change that. (Forbes, 2013.)
In 2012, Alicia Keys faced a lawsuit because her song “Girl on Fire” included some couplets that were reminiscent of Eddie Holman’s classic, “Hey There, Lonely Girl.” However, for it to be considered copying by sequence of notes, the sequence must be six or more notes in succession. (Mann, 2012.)
In 2009, Coldplay was accused by Santriani that their song “Viva La Vida” contained portions of Santriani’s instrumental work, “If I Could Fly.” Coldplay argued that they did not know Santriani’s song and any similarities were coincidental. Ultimately they settled out of court, perhaps indicating that there was replication between the two songs even if not resulting from intentional copying.
Forbes, Inc. The Blurred Lines of Copyright Law. August 20, 2013. Accessed at http://www.forbes.com/sites/oliverherzfeld/2013/08/20/the-blurred-lines-of-copyright-law-robin-thicke-v-marvin-gayes-estate/ on Thursday, February 6, 2014.
Kafman, Gil. Coldplay, Joe Satriani Settle Copyright Infringement Case. MTV News. September 16, 2009. Accessed at http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1621614/coldplay-settle-with-joe-satriani.jhtml on Thursday, February 6, 2014.
Mann, Camille. Alicia Keys Accused of Copyright Infringement for “Girl on Fire”. CBS News. December 19, 2012. Accessed at http://www.cbsnews.com/news/alicia-keys-accused-of-copyright-infringement-for-girl-on-fire/ on Thursday, February 6, 2014.
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