Copyright Law Blog

Federal Judge Rules in Favor of Mariah Carey!

August 12th, 2009 at 06:39pm Under copyright infringement

One of the most long-drawn battles on copyright infringement that pitched pop diva Mariah Carey into a legal tussle came to a close today, on the September 26, 2007. This case had been ongoing for the last 1 year or so, with singer Rafael Chafir suing Mariah Carey for copying her song “Sexy”, and refining some tunes to make her song, “It’s like that!” Interesting to the naked eye and you would find the imbroglio even more intriguing when you get into the specifics!

Obviously, Sexy was released long before Mariah could come up with It’s like that. Sexy, to common knowledge was released in 2004 and Rafael had the copyrights on the song. She had put up this song on the World Wide Web. And this, according to Rafael, was one source from where Mariah Carey stole her song. She claimed that Mariah had taken some key tunes and chords from the song, and refined it in It’s like that.

Sounds like a valid argument, but when you consider what the ruling judge had to say about the whole story, you would find that there seems to be some kind of disconnect. Kimba Wood, a US District Court Judge, ruled in favor of Mariah stating that there wasn’t enough evidence that Mariah or her collaborators sneaked in to the website and stole the song. But one thing that the Judge pointed out was, Mariah’s tunes were not “strikingly similar” to Sexy, to deduce the case of copyright infringement. And while, Mariah and her collaborators can rejoice for now, but they should know that they were let off, only just!

Clearly, people who had heard Sexy, and It’s like that are quick to point out striking similarities between the two. They clearly feel that It’s like that seems to be a more refined version of Sexy, especially when you consider the tunes and the chorus. Thus, most people who had been following this case closely would say that Raphael was indeed at the receiving end of justice. Some of them have even gone on record to say that it was Mariah’s standing and popularity that allowed her to get away with this. All said and done, this clearly was one episode Mariah could have avoided, had she been a touch careful with her tunes.

Road ahead for Mariah Carey – Well, it never has looked better for the singer. Her next album, The Emancipation of Mimi, is all set to release on the 4th December. From initial previews, it seems to be one heck of an effort from Mariah. By now, Mariah is already an established singer in her genre, and in spite of opposition from Christina Aguiliera and Shania Twain, she still manages to lead the pack.

Mariah fans, like Mariah can breathe easy. But even they too like Mariah know that these kinds of incidents should not be repeated ever after. If it does happen, the otherwise glittering music career of Mariah Carey could definitely come under the copyright hammer.

Internet – the Best Source for Free Mp3 Music Download

August 11th, 2009 at 06:41am Under music copyright

When you ask people about their hobbies, most of them will be quick to say that it is listening to music. This craze for music is age old, but still its charm hasn’t diminished over the years. For some, it is a way to relax, while for others, it is sheer fun and many take great pleasure in it because they can also dance. Nonetheless, the technological advancement has now made it easier for music enthusiasts to stay connected with their passion and for no cost at all. The only thing that is required is a PC and an Internet connection, and their job is already half done.
Features of free MP3 download websites
The Internet has an abundance of free MP3 download websites that allow people to download their favorite music anytime without any cost. Most of the music on these sites is covered under the creative commons license that enables Internet users to listen, share, copy or even burn tracks to CD. There are thousands of tracks that are enlisted at these websites where you will be able to download music, and are even categorized according to their genres such as pop, rock, hip hop, classical, urban, Latin, soul and many others. This helps the user to find their favorite tracks easily and with little effort. There are also search options available to find the songs of your choice in an instant.
Benefits of free MP3 download websites
These free MP3 music download websites also prove to be of great assistance for new and upcoming singers to get reviews from people, whether good or bad. While good reviews can be a great source of free publicity for them, bad reviews can assist them in analyzing their mistakes and thereby provides them with a scope of improvement before the big and final launch of their music album, if they are planning for one, that is. Though people might refrain from such free downloads believing that this is an infringement of copyright and might be sued by the Recording Industry Association of America, but this is not true. This is because the artists themselves are permitting people to listen to their tracks and download them in the MP3 format.
MP3 music downloads review websites
Another way to look for legal free MP3 music downloads is to look for websites that provide music reviews which will guide you to the legal destination for free music downloads. These websites help you to find a good music download site quickly and makes it easy for you to select the best. Hence, there are a lot of music download sites available on the Internet that can be searched for, either directly or by way of these music review sites. Now that you know where the store house of free MP3 music is, just create your own music database, get started and make the most out of this technological advancement without paying a single penny. So, worry no more about the legal issues and infringement rights, and download the best and latest music from these MP3 music download sites for free.

Downloading Music From the Internet – What not to Do

July 10th, 2009 at 06:41am Under music copyright

You’ve just got a new Zune or other media player, and you’re dying to get that song that you used to have on a record. You search the internet and find it!

It’s free! All you have to do is give them your email address and it’s yours. So you start to download it and the next thing you know, you have pop ups every time you open your browser, your anti-virus is complaining about trojans and trackware and your personal information is being copied around the internet.

There were signs. A page full of banner ads (some of which you had to avert your eyes from), pop-ups, flashing icons – and you thought you could just download it and transfer it to your Zune.

This happens everyday – all they want is a free song – it won’t hurt to download one free song – and they immediately regret it.

This happens every day. The reason these illegal copies are free is that the people who steal them don;t have the highest moral character! They take advantage of people downloading music, and steal much more than music copyright.

Fortunately, people are realizing that illegal downloads from these sort of sites are something to stay away from from the beginning. They are starting to realize that they aren’t really saving much, and the damage to your computer, and possibly your life, could be significantly worse.

There are options, today, to download music that are proven to be cost effective – pay per download from Zune Marketplace or amazon.com or membership sites where you pay one fixed charge for unlimited, lifetime downloads. These are places where you can look for that tune, and download it knowing that you won’t be downloading viruses or spyware.

It is worth it, for your computer and your peace of mind, to always download songs from a legal source that you can trust.