Re: plagiarism (still off-topic)

[George Scithers owlswick@xxxxxxxx]

Note that the judge found that Harrison had access to the source song. A
difference between patent law and copyright law is this: even if you never
heard of an invention and independently make that invention, whoever filed
for a patent can successfully sue for infringement. But if you
independently come up with a tune, or a Limerick, never having seen or
heard an earlier, copyrighted example of that sequence of notes or of
words, then you cannot successfully be sued for copyright infringement.

George Scithers of owlswickpress@xxxxxxxx
----- Original Message -----
From: 
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Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2002 5:23 PM
Subject: Re: plagiarism (still off-topic)


> Quoting "J. R. Fox" :
>
> > cld@xxxxxxxx wrote:
> >
> > > "He's So Fine", recorded by the Chiffons in 1962. Those were the
> > days....
> >
> > Yes, but it wasn't lyrics, just a couple chords.
>
> Not just the chords, but the melody as well.
>
> > Given the stature and reputation of Harrison, this was certainly an
unconscious
> > accident, quite possibly a trivial and incidental one.
>
> In his 1976 decision, Judge Richard Owen, of the federal district court
in
> Manhattan, agreed with you as to "unconscious", but not as to "accident",
and
> certainly not as to "trivial and incidental". He wrote:
>
> "What happened? I conclude that the composer [Harrison, possibly assisted
by
> Billy Preston], in seeking musical materials to clothe his thoughts, was
working
> with various possibilities. As he tried this possibility and that, there
came to
> the surface of his mind a particular combination that pleased him as
being one
> he felt would be appealing to a prospective listener; in other words,
that this
> combination of sounds would work. Why? Because his subconscious knew it
already
> had worked in a song his conscious mind did not remember. Having arrived
at this
> pleasing combination of sounds, the recording was made, the lead sheet
prepared
> for copyright and the song became an enormous success. Did Harrison
deliberately
> use the music of He's So Fine? I do not believe he did so deliberately.
> Nevertheless, it is clear that My Sweet Lord is the very same song as
He's So
> Fine with different words, and Harrison had access to He's So Fine. This
is,
> under the law, infringement of copyright, and is no less so even though
> subconsciously accomplished."
>
> By the way, the judge noted that the song was later recorded by the
Belmonts
> "with tongue in cheek", using the lyrics from both "My Sweet Lord" and
"He's So
> Fine".
>
> I digress, but this case has always fascinated me.
>
> --
> Carl Distefano
> cld@xxxxxxxx
> http://users.datarealm.com/xywwweb/
>
>
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