‘Dark Horse’ in the spotlight for music theft – copyright ready for a perfect storm, a perfect storm
A jury in California recently handed down a $US2.78 million verdict against Katy Perry and writers of the 2013 hit ‘Dark Horse’ for copying from a Christian rap song ‘Joyful Noise’. The decision follows a line of high-profile copyright infringement cases in the music industry in recent years, including the dispute involving ‘Blurred Lines’ where Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams were found to have illegally copied from Marvin Gaye, and Sam Smith handing over 25% of royalties to settle an infringement claim over ‘Stay With Me’. An interesting issue raised in the ‘Dark Horse’ case was whether several million views on YouTube is sufficient to demonstrate access through widespread dissemination. read more…