Kimberly Marasco claims several Taylor Swift songs are rip-offs of her poems. :: sigh :: The case in the news today is a refiling, and I don’t think Musicologize even bothered to address it on the merits the first time. But since it’s back, let’s hit it quickly. The only reason I’m giving it attention …

The similarity was observed quickly enough: “There’s a Pixies vibe in ‘Actually Romantic’, with a riff reminiscent of ‘Where Is My Mind?’” wrote Stylist. Pitchfork referred to the track as “the Kidz Bop version of the Pixies’ ‘Where Is My Mind?’,” a phrase that spread quickly across social media, including Pitchfork’s own X post. Defensible …

The recently revived Ambrosetti v. Oregon Catholic Press lawsuit was first filed in 2016. Can these things drag on or what?! Some of you probably weren’t born yet, so how about a quick recap? A decade ago, plaintiff Vincent Ambrosetti believed his song “Emmanuel” was infringed by Bernadette Farrell’s “Christ Be Our Light,” for which Oregon Catholic Press …

We love stories about bands that don’t get along the way we idealistically expect they should. Aaaaand we also find Sting pretentious. Of course this story has legs! But no teeth. Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers don’t and likely won’t own any of the publishing on “Every Breath You Take,” no matter how much we …

Yeah. That’ll do it.Today’s cert-denial finishes “SAS I” and almost certainly finishes the other Structured Asset Sales case you might have seen mentioned in today’s reporting — the stayed numerosity-geared “SAS II.” Ed Sheeran has been defending against “Let’s Get It On” claims for years and years, and now the whole shebang ends instantly and …

Or maybe it’s my problem. After the judge in Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” infringement case not only dismissed Vince Vance’s copyright infringement claim at the summary judgment stage, but the ruling also laid the foundation for possibly awarding nearly $200,000 in legal fees that I’m guessing the plaintiff was not …

I’ve been paying attention to this case while waiting for significant shoes to drop in a bunch of others. This court is making decisions that will turn into raised points in the others. An amicus by Bryan Frye (my friend, let me divulge) throws a friendly wrench into this one. And I think it’s important. …

Vince Vance was wrong to sue Mariah Carey. So, why am I sympathizing now? Last week, a judge dismissed what is almost certainly the last of Vince Vance’s misguided “All I Want For Christmas Is You” lawsuits. No surprise there. I’ve explained multiple times why the case was fundamentally flawed from the outset. The dismissal …

Delighted to be on with the BBC to discuss, fortunately, not one of the more nuanced cases out there. And especially pleased and grateful to the host and producers for not letting me sound silly after what had gone something like: 8:30am: RING. “Hi. It’s BBC News. Can you jump on in 45 minutes to …

I’m not the one to ask. But I’m not sure who is. A forensic musicologist is bound to be asked about AI. Q: “How do artificial intelligence-based tools affect my process?” A: I’m using AI more and more, certainly not for assessing substantial similarity, but cool stuff like stem separation, for example — very helpful …