COPYRIGHT FIGHTS OVER MUSIC COMMON
LOS ANGELES — The Blurred Lines ruling is only the latest in decades of cases that have taken pop songs from the recording studio to the courtroom over plagiarism allegations. Here are some highlights:
EX-BEATLE VERSUS THE CHIFFONS
Former Beatle George Harrison’s 1970 solo song My Sweet Lord had a melody heavy with echoes of He’s So Fine, the 1962 hit from The Chiffons. The copyright owner sued Harrison. A judge said that while the tunes were nearly identical, Harrison was guilty only of “subconscious plagiarism.” Harrison would eventually pay out $587,000.
HUEY LEWIS VERSUS THE GHOSTBUSTERS
Ray Parker Jr. ain’t afraid of no ghost, but he had to give in when Huey Lewis and the News came after him. Parker’s Ghostbusters, from the movie of the same title, was among the top 10 songs of 1984. But Lewis sued him over the song’s resemblance to I Want a New Drug, a song released earlier the same year. Parker settled out of court for a confidential sum.
FOGERTY VERSUS FOGERTY
In a case as bizarre as it was far-reaching, John Fogerty was accused of stealing from John Fogerty. The Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman was sued for his 1985 solo song The Old Man Down the Road because his former label thought it sounded too much like the 1970 Fogerty-written Run Through the Jungle, a song it owned the rights to. A jury ruled in Fogerty’s favour, but a countersuit over lawyers’ fees would reach the U.S. Supreme Court. And the fight would lead to a decadeslong and ongoing rift among bandmates. Fogerty was still estranged from his brother and fellow CCR member Tom Fogerty over the issue when Tom died in 1990.
VANILLA ICE VERSUS QUEEN
Vanilla Ice’s 1990 signature tune, Ice, Ice, Baby, used a sample of the 1981 Queen- David Bowie collaboration Under Pressure without credit. Vanilla Ice would settle out of court for an undisclosed amount in one of many cases that stemmed from hip-hop’s heavy use of sampling at the time.
TOM PETTY VERSUS SAM SMITH
Not all plagiarism cases are so nasty. Tom Petty won a piece of British soulster Sam Smith’s hit Stay With Me earlier this year, and all he had to do was ask. Petty’s publishers said that while it was clearly coincidental, the song’s melody bore a striking resemblance to Petty’s 1989 song I Won’t Back Down. Smith and his representatives agreed, and granted co-writing credit to Petty. The song would win Grammys for record of the year and song of the year the following month.