Musicology

As you may have read already there’s a new case against Thinking Out Loud, claiming (as does at least two other cases) that it infringes upon “Let’s Get It On.” This time there’s additional defendants and a new registration of the 1973 recording to go along with the sheet music that was originally registered. And …

There are now no fewer than three lawsuits arguing that Ed Sheeran’s super mega hit “Thinking Out Loud” infringes upon Marvin Gaye and Ed Townsend’s “Let’s Get It On;” two of them from the same plaintiff. SAS (Structured Asset Sales), which acquired partial rights to “Let’s Get It On” from one of Mr. Townsend’s successors, …

A lawsuit has been filed against Travis Scott claiming his hit “Highest In the Room” infringes on a track called “Cartier” by songwriters Olivier Bassil, Benjamin Lasnier, and Lukas Benjamin Leth. The three plaintiffs reportedly shopped “Cartier” around and were in touch with Scott’s people. There’s plenty of backstories told in the complaint, but that’s …

For The Weeknd, one much-publicized lawsuit went away, but another comes back around to take its place. The band, “Yeasayer” had claimed The Weeknd’s “Pray For Me” (a collaboration with Kendrick Lamar that appeared in the Black Panther soundtrack) sampled without permission their 2007 track called “Sunrise.” Here’s that complaint. It was rather a weird …

Let’s not be too sure that “Music Copyright Infringement Is Beginning To Make Sense Again.” According to Bloomberg Law, Nickelback just got sued because their hit “Rockstar,” according to a musician named Kirk Johnston, sounds too much like his own “Rock Star” track, which as you might’ve guessed is similar to Nickelback’s at least in …

It’s not so much that anyone even knew, much less cared, that there was a copyright infringement case involving “You Raise Me Up,” by Josh Groban and Westlife. It’s more that now that the case has been dismissed it joins recent judgments on famous infringement cases around “Stairway To Heaven” and “Dark Horse” to collectively …

Protection for a combination of unprotected elements. Musically, the “Led Zeppelin Stairway v Spirit Taurus” trial was at best an abstraction. Legally though? — it’s awesome and informs the starting point from which to look at the second half of the Dark Horse ruling’s consideration of “protection of a combination of unprotected elements.” The Dark …

Ed Sheeran is waiting for his day in court, facing Ed Townsend’s charge that megahit “Thinking Out Loud” infringes on “Let’s Get It On,” another megahit by Marvin Gaye. (Townsend co-wrote it.) And while the case doesn’t get to court for months, Sheeran’s case probably got a boost from the recent Dark Horse ruling and …

Wound up in an okay place, but the means are highly suspect. So much press lauding these decisions. They should read them with a different eye, Dark Horse especially. “Dark Horse,” “Stairway,” and “Blurred Lines” collectively had composers paralyzed with fear, right? Plenty of other big songs found their way to litigation in the past …

Pleased? Yes, I am. Satisfied? Not till I read the whole decision. Which so far looks dicey. Check back. Meantime, there are other articles on this site that look at Dark Horse. This first most recent one — Copyright infringement and the Climate Of Fear — covers the idea that a few bad verdicts shouldn’t …