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[Zephon]

I believe that melodies can be copyrighted if they are written down on sheet music or a lead sheet, although chord progressions cannot.  Example:  the legal trouble George Harrison experienced with My Sweet Lord for which he was accused of plagiarizing Ronald Mack's He's So Fine.  The court found that he was guilty of copyright infringement. 

[History Buff]

^^^I think Vanilla Ice would disagree.

[okiebluegrass]

Apparently this is a really slippery slope. As I said before there are only so many notes. Parodies (which use exactly the same music) are legal per the supreme court. I can list hundreds of songs with the same progressions and time signatures that sound almost the same. Maybe they could just sing it in a different key. Then the notes are technically not the same.

Sometimes these lawsuits go forward and sometimes they get tossed. There isn't really a definitive precident. How much the melody has to be changed is left to interpretation.

With millions and millions of songs written every day, how can you ever be sure you're not ripping somebody off?

[oldsdcer]

I wonder if the writer of the song " In The Summertime" can sue for copyright infringement because the alarms on the ventilators we use at the hospital are the same as that melody.......da da dot   da dot  da da da  da dot

[sanddunerider]

oldscer!!  what r u doing?

auditioning to get hired for moonlight madness?

[Junior]

Millions of Dollars are made each year by songwriters whose songs have been turned into ringtones, it would not surprise me if some copyright holder gets paid each time that another alarm or paging system unit gets sold that plays their song. When they came up with the "singing bass" plaques a few years ago, you bet someone got paid for the song snippets on those things. Legally, a business cannot play a radio in their shop unless they pay royalties for the recorded songs the radio station plays. It's also illegal to play a DVD intended for "home viewing only" in a public area. If it was my song, movie, or TV show, you bet I'd want to be paid for its use. 

[oldsdcer]

Know where I can get reasonable Elton John tickets in Springfield?

[Joy]

If you find a place, let me know! I tried at noon on Saturday to get into the ticket purchasing, but gave up after being in the "Waiting Room" for close to an hour.