Copyright is one such term which is being used when an individual has to protect their own intellectual property from being copied or stolen by others without any authorisation. This helps people to save their own creativity and those things are named as their intellectual property. The most creative things are created by the music individuals as they are able to create new and original tracks. But this has also affected the music industry as many cases of Copyright Infringement have occurred over the past. Here we’ll be having a look at some of the high-profile music industry Copyright Infringement cases and how they impacted the Music Industry.
Disney vs Allen
The Copyright Infringement case between Walt Disney and Thornton Allen came out to be the biggest Copyright Infringement case ever. Allen said that Disney used a part of his original song “Old Eli” in the song “Someday My Prince Will Come” in the movie “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. The song in the movie was sung by Frank Churchill and Allen took this case to the court when he got to know about the same. Although the case wasn’t actionable as both the music had a bit of similarities which were not strong enough to make it an actionable Infringement case.
George Harrison vs Chiffons
This case is known to be the earliest and also the most popular Copyright Infringement case in the entire music industry and it definitely affected the industry to a huge extent. Chiffon’s song “My Sweet Lord” was alleged to be stolen from the song “He’s So Fine” which was sung by George Harrison. The case took a long time to be sorted as it was definitely a high-profile case for the music industry. Therefore, the court had to investigate things clearly before reaching a decision. Once the investigations had been done, it was made clear that Chiffons used a part of George Harrison’s song which ultimately led to the victory of George Harrison in this case. Along with that, this case also set an example for other music companies to not make this mistake.
Vanilla Ice vs Queen
Vanilla Ice and Queen are among the most beautiful singers of all-time. Vanilla Ice’s song “Ice Ice Baby” was an ultimate hit for the music industry until it got noticed by Queen where the latter got to know that a part of her song “Under Pressure” was used in the song. Queen said that the part of her song used by Vanilla Ice was just a sample part but it was used without permission due to which the case was taken to the court. After a few hearings, the decision came in the favour of Queen and Vanilla Ice had to pay for the damages to the Copyright owner.
Ed Sheeran vs Marvin Gaye
If we have a look at the current high-profile cases of Copyright Infringement in the music industry, people will surely have the case between Ed Sheeran and Martin Gaye in the list. This case is still going on as Ed Sheeran is reported to copy the song of Martin Gaye in his 2014 hit song “Thinking Out Loud”. The team of Marvin Gaye filed a lawsuit when they got to know that Ed Sheeran’s song was copied from her “Let’s Get It On” song repeatedly. Although the case has yet not been cleared, it is expected to be cleared soon.
Katy Perry vs Marcus Gray
Last, but not the least is the Copyright Infringement case between Marcus Gray and Katy Perry. This case was filed by Marcus Gray saying that Katy Perry copied a part of his song in her “Dark Horse”. Marcus Gray said that Katy Perry had copied the part of his song “Joyful Noise” saying that some parts of the song sound similar to the one of Katy Perry. The court hearings came out in favour of Marcus Gray due to which Katy Perry had to pay a total of 2.78 million US dollars for the damages caused.