The Well Known Copyright Cases in Music

George Harrison vs Bright Tunes Music Corp.

The case was heard in court for the first time, in February of 1976, George Harrison’s attorneys tried to prove out the difference between the two songs, but with little success. The not so good news involves a song called “He’s So Fine” recorded by the Chiffons in 1962 and then moved under the Bright Tunes Music Corp label in 1971. The case waited to be heard for five years, during which time George Harrison’s attorneys continued to try to settle out of court. George Harrison’s ‘My Sweet Lord’ was released January 15, 1971 and hit the charts on January 23, 1971 as George Harrison’s first solo single. Though an out of court settlement was approached, including an offer of 148,000.00, but it never reached fruition before the court case proceeded, as the attorneys for Bright Tunes Music Corp.

Michael Bolton vs the Isley Brothers

A suit was brought against Michael Bolton by the Isley Brothers for allegedly lifting parts from their original song of the same name and in 1991 Despite Michael Bolton and the co-author of the song’s argument that there was insufficient evidence supporting the jury’s findings, the district court found in favor of the Isley Brothers and left the largest award in history for plagiarism in the music industry intact. The Isley Brothers song was released in 1966 under the name “Love is a Wonderful Thing, Michael Bolton’s song was released in 1991. The Isley Brothers isn’t as well known a name as Michael Bolton, but unfortunately for Mr. The Isley Brothers were awarded 5.4 million dollars, the calculation based on sixty-six percent of past and future royalties.

Johnny Cash vs Gordon Jenkins

The original song in question was recorded on a concept album called Seven Dreams, the song in question was part of the ‘Second Dream: The Conductor." It took fifteen years, from the release date of Johnny Cash’s version, for Gordon Jenkins, the original song. Though Johnny Cash’s version is more fine tuned and shows more experienced talent, some of the lines are word for word and some of them have a word or two difference.

Vanilla Ice vs Queen & Bowie

Vanilla Ice became a household word for a while, not because of his talent, but because of the copyright infringement that occured in 1990 when it came to light that he had sampled Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” without consent or license. Vanilla Ice altered the rhythm of the baseline thinking he would thereby avoid any question of credit, royalties, license or even permission. Ice Ice Baby hit number one on the charts in the United States and Vanilla Ice became the one ‘under pressure’. This case never went to court as it was clear that Vanilla Ice had stolen the sample without permission.

John Fogerty vs Creedence Clearwater Revival

There was no love lost between Saul Zaentz and John Fogerty which became imminently clear in 1985 when Fogerty recorded and released a song called Zanz Can’t Dance from the Centerfield album, which was about a con man and his con pig. After the court ruled to dismiss the case, Fogerty filed his own suit against Fantasy Records for attorneys fees and was granted restitution by the U.S. Supreme Court. John Fogerty considered this a very important case as it would have bearing on whether an artist could continue on in his or her own style once having signed over rights to their creations. It took a visit to the court with guitar in hand by John Fogerty in order to settle the case. In order to be able to leave Creedence Clearwater Revival, John Fogerty had to sign away all of his royalties in CCR’s stable of songs.

[Source: http://www.fairwagelawyers.com]

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