From: utzoo!decvax!yale-com!brunix!ljm Newsgroups: net.music Title: Re: GIBBS GUILTY! FEVER FANS FORLORN! Article-I.D.: brunix.1698 Posted: Fri Feb 25 08:00:03 1983 Received: Sat Feb 26 04:44:27 1983 References: ihuxw.288 This decision bothers me a lot. The good news is that Harrison eventually prevailed on appeal, so maybe there is a precedent. As a musician, and also as someone who spent ten years in radio, and also produced a few records, this whole deal is so blatant that my stomagh hurts when I think about it: some bozo decides he can make a few bucks by harassing a celebrity, files a copyright infringement claim, gets a jury trial (the real goal - since a jury is almost always unqualified in such matters and will side with a percieved 'underdog'), and wins a decision based on ignorance... First (and I hope the BEE GEES lawyers out there are taking notes) - what was the motive for the Bee Gees to steal this guys sone? None. They know (or their management knows) what the penalties are, and what legal hassle would ensue. Also, if they really like the song, they could cover it and pay the guy his mechanicals anyway. Second, what was their opportunity to copy this song? Probably zero. If the guy sent his demo to "a couple of record companies", I can tell you what happened to it: it got thrown in a bin with about 200 other tapes (a good weeks' average), and then maybe some one listened to it on a Friday afternoon after the beer party and threw it back in the bin. Jeez, I heard the tape on the news and it sounded like dogfood to me productionwise -- that alone would bury it in the trash. Third, a decision like this sets a really bad precedent: Hell, a lot of songs sound alike -- anybody who's been in radion will tell you that one of the ways to program music is to find and exploit these similarities. (Sometimes this is called 'segueing' songs together). If there were a suit filed for every instance of apparent similarity, the courts would be clogged for centuries. Fourth, the songs aren't that close! The first few notes are the same - that happens all the time. The rest of the melody, and the modulation into the bridges, are vbery different. Almost any trained musician should be able to testify to this. I'm extremely disappointed that the defense councel didn't do a better job on this point at least. Now, please don't assume I'm a Bee Gees fan (ugh). But these guys are really getting the shaft, and that's good for them, or the music world. Boy am I pissed, Lou Mazzucchelli decvax!brunix!ljm