News Analysis India

Tag: Copyright

  • Mariah Carey sued over ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: Singer-songwriter-record producer Mariah Carey has been accused of plagiarism as a country music songwriter has claimed copyright infringement over ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’.Mariah and co-writer Walter Afansieff are named in the lawsuit by songwriter Andy Stone, who claims his ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ by Vince Vance & the Valiants from 1989 is being infringed, reports ‘Deadline’.Stone filed his papers in the US District Court in the Eastern District of Louisiana. While the songs have the same title, there is only a hint of Mariah’s melody or lyrics beyond the title call-out. Her version of the song came out in 1994 and has become a holiday staple on radio, streaming, and the NBA’s annual slate of games on Christmas Day.As per ‘Deadline’, Stone claims his song received extensive airplay during the 1993 holiday season. He is asking for $20 million in damages. Stone claims Mariah and Afansieff “intentionally engaged in a campaign to infringe” his copyright on the work.Pamela Koslyn, a Los Angeles attorney specialising in music and intellectual property rights, noted there are 177 works, many of them musical compositions, with ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ as the title. Koslyn noted that she would have a different answer if all of the lyrics are “substantially similar” to Carey’s version.Koslyn said in a statement accessed by ‘Deadline’: “Song titles aren’t entitled to copyright protection. That’s why there are 177 works using the same title. An even more popular title is ‘My Baby’, which has 4860 works registered with the Copyright Office. And that doesn’t even count ‘common law’ (unregistered) works using the same title.”The Mariah Carey version of the song has over 1 billion streams on Spotify alone. Last year, it became the first song to be a No. 1 hit in three separate runs on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart.

  • Ed Sheeran faces legal trouble over 2017 hit song ‘Shape of You’

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON:: British singer and songwriter Ed Sheeran has found himself in legal trouble as a copyright lawsuit has been filed over his 2017 hit single ‘Shape of You’. According to Variety, this case, which is the culmination of a 4-year legal battle between Sheeran and songwriters Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue, will be heard in London’s High Court.

    Chokri, better known under his pseudonym Sami Switch, is a grime artist, while O’Donoghue is a producer. Both of them have alleged that Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ bears similarities to Chakri’s single ‘Oh Why’. On ‘Shape of You’, Sheeran holds the credit as its lyricist alongside Patrol singer Johnny McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon.

    All of them along with Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Rokstone Music Limited, Polar Patrol Music and Kobalt Music, in 2018, had issued legal proceedings against Chokri and O’Donoghue in a bid to get a legal declaration saying there was no copyright infringement.

    A counterclaim was issued by Chokri and O’Donoghue two months later alleging copyright infringement and asking for damages and an account of profits, suggested reports. The Performing Rights Society (PRS), which collects royalties on behalf of artists, has suspended royalties to Sheeran, McDaid and McCutcheon while the dispute is ongoing, according to reports.

    This is not the first instance of Sheeran being sued over copyright infringement. Previously, in 2016, he was sued over his single ‘Photograph’, and two years later was sued for USD 100 million due to ‘Thinking Out Loud’.

    As per Variety, the lawsuit over ‘Photograph’ was settled out of court but the battle over ‘Thinking Out Loud’ is believed to still be ongoing. This new trial will be heard before Mr Justice Zacaroli and is expected to last three weeks.