The Law Beat

By: Charles “Trey” Lewis III A� orney at Law

� e U.S. Constitution gives Congress power to grant copyright protection to creators in an e� ort “to promote the Progress of Science and Useful Arts.” Pursuant to this Constitutional power, Congress passed the Copyright Act, which protects a broad range of original works – including music – from duplication by others.

The moment an original work is created, the creator receives immediate copyright protec-tion, meaning that the creator owns the exclusive rights to the work. � is includes the right to make copies of the work, distribute copies to the pub-lic, adapt the work, display the work publicly, and perform the work publicly. Of course, the creator may transfer some or all of these rights to others. Copyright protection is not inde� nite. Exclusive rights last for the life of the creator plus 70 years.

Several high pro� le musicians such as Mi-chael Bolton, Vanilla Ice, and Johnny Cash have been implicated in copyright infringement cases. Arguably the most famous case is Bright Tunes Music Corp. v. Harrisongs Music, Ltd.

In 1962 an all-girl band named the Chif-fons recorded “He’s So Fine,” a song that shot to No. 1 on the American billboard charts for � ve weeks. Eight years later George Harrison, a for-mer member of � e Beatles, released “My Sweet Lord.”

In 1971, Bright Tunes Music Corporation, the copyright holder of “He’s So Fine” sued George Harrison and his production company for plagiarism, arguing that while the lyrics to Harrison’s song may be di� erent, his song was melodically identical to “He’s So Fine.”

� e New York Court examined Harrison’s process of creating “My Sweet Lord.”

“Harrison and his group, which include an American black gospel singer named Billy Pres-ton, were in Copenhagen, Denmark, on a sing-ing engagement . . . . Harrison slipped away from the press conference and went to a room upstairs and began ‘vamping’ some guitar chords, � � ing

on to the chords he was playing the words, ‘Hal-lelujah’ and ‘Hare Krishna’ in various ways…. “

“Approximately one week a� er the idea � rst

began to germinate, the entire group � ew back to London because they had earlier booked time to go to a recording studio with Billy Preston to make an album. In the studio, Preston was the principal musician. Harrison did not play in the session. He had given Preston his basic [melody] with the idea that it be turned into a song, and was back and forth from the studio to the engi-neer’s recording booth, supervising the record-ing ‘takes.’ Under circumstances that Harrison was u� erly unable to recall, while everybody was working toward a � nished song, in the record-ing studio, somehow or other the essential three notes of [the melody] reached polished form.”

� e Court concluded that while Harrison had not deliberately used “He’s So Fine” in the creation of “My Sweet Lord,” he had subcon-sciously utilized the song. Because the tunes were so similar and because Harrison had un-doubtedly heard “He’s So Fine” the Court found Harrison liable for plagiarism and awarded Bright Tunes Music Corporation $1,599,987 in damages.

� is case illustrates that the successful musi-cian must be aware of copyright laws to not only prevent from infringing on another’s property rights but also to protect their own work.

Trey is an a� orney practicing with the Filemon Vela Law Group, PLLC which has o� ces in Brownsville and Houston. Trey can be reached for questions or comments at tlewis@vela-legal.net or at (956) 544-8352. Please note this column is for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace the retention of an a� orney.

7 LEGAL

Copyright