Sam Smith and Normani’s 2023 copyright lawsuit win is overturned

[Teletubby 159,952]

A federal appeals court has revived a copyright infringement lawsuit against Sam Smith and Normani that claimed their song “Dancing with a Stranger” ripped off a 2015 song of an identical name.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday reversed a lower court’s dismissal of the case, finding that a jury could find that the hooks of the two songs are substantially similar. A California federal judge will reconsider the issue.

Sound and Color, which holds the copyright to “Dancing with Strangers” from Jordan Vincent and music duo SKX, filed the lawsuit in 2022. It alleged that the title, lyrics, melody and overall production of the song from Smith and Normani copied elements of its track.

While the tempo of Smith’s tune is noticeably slower, the lawsuit claimed that the keys of the songs match when his track is slowed down. It said that the underlying compositions of the tunes are nearly identical, with their hooks sharing the same phrase arranged with the same titles and lyrics.

A California federal court judge in 2023 dismissed the case, finding that the songs aren’t substantially similar to one another and that the phrase “dancing with a stranger” isn’t protected by copyright law.

In Tuesday’s order, the appeals court said that the case should’ve gone to a jury. It stressed that there’s no well-defined standard for assessing when similarities in the selection and arrangement of songs become substantial enough to constitute infringement.

source

[Stephen 30,433]

48 minutes ago, Teletubby said:

In Tuesday’s order, the appeals court said that the case should’ve gone to a jury. It stressed that there’s no well-defined standard for assessing when similarities in the selection and arrangement of songs become substantial enough to constitute infringement.

This is interesting. Wouldn't a jury also lack a well-defined standard to form their position? Why not bring in a musical expert or something? A professor? Music is subjective but can't this be quantified somehow?

 

[Nemo 4,396]

1989

[YoggieBoy 88]

The concept of the video looks a little familiar but the tempo, pitch, everything else...not at all similar. They're alleging that the chorus is the part of the song that sounds the most alike and it barely does.. one could argue that the same phrase was sung in a similar style but it is not the same thing, this is obviously an cash grab.
 

 

 

[Gohan 16,781]

I HATE I really HATE the fact that Blurred Lines lost that damn case because it opened an ugly door for any****ingbody to sue every single song and that's why you've seen an increase in new "sampled" songs after that case