Arts | Law

July 24, 2007

Picking Up What They're Laying Down

Gelf gets the scoop on the biggest he-stole-she-stole song plagiarism debates of the last half century.

Adam Conner-Simons

Twice within the last few months, Avril Lavigne has been publicly accused of musical plagiarism; allegedly, she stole melodies, rhythm, and lyrical content from other bands' songs in her new album, The Best Damn Thing.

According to copyright law, musicians who accuse others of stealing their work must prove "access"—the alleged plagiarizer must have heard the song he's said to have ripped off—and "similarity"—the songs must share unique musical components. The nebulous definition of "similarity" means that even top legal scholars disagree about when plagiarism has occurred. "There's no right answer as to how similar a similarity has to be," Michael Meuer, a professor of intellectual property law at Boston University, tells Gelf.







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Comments

- Arts
- posted on Jul 25, 07
Michael Gluckstadt

Nice job Adam, I couldve sworn I had heard that Avril Lavigne song somewhere else

- Arts
- posted on Aug 22, 07
David Mitchell

Nice job Adam!

- Arts
- posted on Sep 21, 07
MAJOR AKA TYRONE

CHAMILLIONAIRE STOLE MY SONG HE CALLS IT "RIDEN" BUT THROUGH THE HOLE SONG HE CHANTS RIDEN DIRTY. MY SONG IS ROLLIN DIRTY. DONT LISTEN TO THE BEAT BUT LISTEN TO THE WORDS. THE MEANING AND ARRANGMENT OF LYRICS ARE TO DAMN CLOSE FOR COMFORT. BUT GET THIS I HAVE COPY WRITE PAPPERS . BEAT HIS BY 6 MONTHS . CHECK THE SONG OUT AT MYSPACE.COM/MAJORAKATYRONE . CAN SOME ONE HELP ME OUT !!!

- Arts
- posted on Oct 31, 07
Lindsay Clark

This was a really fun site. I'm teaching at a middle school and they really enjoyed a section I did on copyright law. Your research helped a lot of the kids. They especially enjoyed the links so they could hear the music on their own and compare themselves.

Thanks

- Arts
- posted on Dec 13, 07
Evil Mammoth

Nice article.

Just wanted to let you know, though, that the Ray Parker Jr. video was taken off of YouTube. Not that I needed to watch it or anything. It's Ghostbusters, for Christ's sake. It's replaced the National Anthem.

- Arts
- posted on Jan 11, 08
Sandino Rios

Good one Adam,
THe other one I thought of was the misfits, who claim that STP stole a song off them, I beleive it was sex type thing.

- Arts
- posted on Mar 13, 13
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- Arts
- posted on Mar 13, 13
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Article by Adam Conner-Simons

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