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The Law Beat G
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Copyright
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 on to the chords he was playing the words, ‘Hal-
is created, the creator receives lelujah’ and ‘Hare Krishna’ in various ways…. “
immediate copyright protec-
“Approximately one week a er the idea rst
tion, meaning that the creator began to germinate, the entire group ew back
owns the exclusive rights to to London because they had earlier booked time
the work. is includes the right to make to go to a recording studio with Billy Preston to
copies of the work, distribute copies to the pub- make an album. In the studio, Preston was the
lic, adapt the work, display the work publicly, principal musician. Harrison did not play in the
and perform the work publicly. Of course, the session. He had given Preston his basic [melody]
creator may transfer some or all of these rights with the idea that it be turned into a song, and
to others. Copyright protection is not inde nite. was back and forth from the studio to the engi-
Exclusive rights last for the life of the creator plus neer’s recording booth, supervising the record-
70 years. ing ‘takes.’ Under circumstances that Harrison
Several high pro le musicians such as Mi- was u erly unable to recall, while everybody was
chael Bolton, Vanilla Ice, and Johnny Cash have working toward a nished song, in the record-
been implicated in copyright infringement cases. ing studio, somehow or other the essential three
Arguably the most famous case is Bright Tunes notes of [the melody] reached polished form.”
Music Corp. v. Harrisongs Music, Ltd. e Court concluded that while Harrison
In 1962 an all-girl band named the Chif- had not deliberately used “He’s So Fine” in the
fons recorded “He’s So Fine,” a song that shot to creation of “My Sweet Lord,” he had subcon-
No. 1 on the American billboard charts for ve sciously utilized the song. Because the tunes
weeks. Eight years later George Harrison, a for- were so similar and because Harrison had un-
mer member of e Beatles, released “My Sweet doubtedly heard “He’s So Fine” the Court found
Lord.” Harrison liable for plagiarism and awarded
In 1971, Bright Tunes Music Corporation, Bright Tunes Music Corporation $1,599,987 in
the copyright holder of “He’s So Fine” sued damages.
George Harrison and his production company is case illustrates that the successful musi-
for plagiarism, arguing that while the lyrics to cian must be aware of copyright laws to not only
Harrison’s song may be di erent, his song was prevent from infringing on another’s property
melodically identical to “He’s So Fine.” rights but also to protect their own work.
e New York Court examined Harrison’s
process of creating “My Sweet Lord.” Trey is an a orney practicing with the Filemon Vela Law
“Harrison and his group, which include an Group, PLLC which has o ces in Brownsville and Houston.
American black gospel singer named Billy Pres- Trey can be reached for questions or comments at tlewis@vela-
ton, were in Copenhagen, Denmark, on a sing- legal.net or at (956) 544-8352. Please note this column is for
ing engagement . . . . Harrison slipped away from informational purposes only and is not intended to replace the
the press conference and went to a room upstairs retention of an a orney.
and began ‘vamping’ some guitar chords, ing