Katy Perry has won an appeal in a copyright case involving damages of $2.8m (£2.3m) over song 'Dark Horse', which had previously been found in favour of rapper Flame, the New York Times reports. In July 2014, Perry was accused of plagiarising the song 'Joyful Noise' by a Christian rapper named Marcus Gray (AKA Flame), for her US No 1 hit 'Dark Horse', which was the second biggest-selling song worldwide that year. The songwriters sued, and in July 2019, a jury sided with Gray, and so Perry, along with five co-defendants including producer Max Martin and rapper Juicy J, were ordered to pay damages, with Perry herself owing $550,000. An appeal has reversed that decision, with the judge, Christina Snyder, setting aside the jury’s verdict saying it was “undisputed” that the eight-note section of 'Dark Horse' in question was “not a particularly unique or rare combination” of notes.

Led Zeppelin have triumphed in a long-running copyright dispute after a US appeals court ruled they did not steal the opening riff in 'Stairway To Heaven'. The Zeps were accused in 2014 of ripping off a song called 'Taurus' by the US band Spirit, written in 1968, three years before 'Stairway To Heaven' was written. Now, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has upheld a 2016 trial verdict that found Led Zeppelin did not copy it.

Technology lawyer and musician Damien Riehl and his associate, programmer Noah Rubin have copyrighted all of the possible unique melodies, billions of them, in an attempt to prevent musicians from being sued on grounds of copyright infringement. They saved all the melodies on a hard-drive and placed them in public domain. Riehl made an amazing TED talk about it.

15 expert musicologists have come to the aid of Katy Perry in her ‘Dark Horse’ copyright case (the court ruled she plagiarised song ‘Joyful Noise’ by Christain rapper Flame, was ordered to pay $2,8 million in damages), by sending an amici curiae letter to the court, asking the case to be reexamined.

"You now could be held liable for being influenced. That is bad news for pop stars, and the producers and songwriters who help them craft hits. They are now marks for frivolous litigation premised upon nebulous assertions as well as a complete and willful ignorance of how pop music is actually made" - New York […]

The U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that iconic film composer Ennio Morricone may reclaim the copyrights to six of his film scores from the late ’70s and early ’80s. In another copyright case, Eminem' publishing company Eight Mile Style filed a massive copyright infringement lawsuit against Spotify. The lawsuit claims that Spotify has no […]

The U.S. Department of Justice has taken Led Zeppelin’s side in the long-running copyright dispute that pits the writers of the group’s anthem 'Stairway to Heaven' against the publishers of the earlier song 'Taurus' by Spirit. The DOJ filed an amicus brief late Thursday supporting Zeppelin, stating, amongst other things, that the relevant portion of […]

123 artists have submitted a brief fo San Francisco court in the closely watched copyright case over the opening guitar riff of Led Zeppelin's ‘Stairway To Heaven’. The case was brought to court by a descendant of Randy Craig Wolfe, former band member and songwriter of Spirit, whose song 'Taurus' Led Zeppelin have allegedly ripped […]

"You sample a song, you get it cleared. The music industry has always been a wild west of rip-off artists, snake oil salesmen and manipulative profiteers but the plagiarism lawyers have beaten some sort of gentlemanly practices into it over the decades. Talent borrows, genius steals, previous genius sends legal letter outlining their cut. There’s […]

European parliament has passed copyright laws which critics say could change the internet with many musicians and creators saying the legislation will compensate artists fairly, but others argue that they will destroy user-generated content. The new rules, including the controversial Article 13, will hold tech firms responsible for material posted without copyright permission. Tech companies […]