Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!cca!ima!inmet!lutton From: lutton@inmet.UUCP Newsgroups: net.music Subject: Re: Unconscious plaigarism? - (nf) Message-ID: <1770@inmet.UUCP> Date: Tue, 30-Oct-84 00:47:01 EST Article-I.D.: inmet.1770 Posted: Tue Oct 30 00:47:01 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 1-Nov-84 01:47:52 EST Lines: 15 #R:sunybcs:-75400:inmet:6600212:000:623 inmet!lutton Oct 28 19:42:00 1984 <> You can quote up to 4 notes of a song legally, without being liable for plagiarism. At the 5th note, plagiarism begins. The court case that set this precedent was one in which the publishers of Handel's "Halleluia Chorus" sued the publishers of "Yes, We Have No Bananas." The decision was that "Bananas" was not a ripoff of "Halleluia." (I don't know why Handel's piece was not considered to be in the public domain.) Also, nobody has copyright to the C major scale, so Kraftwerk's "Kometenmelodie" (ascending) and Arlen's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (descending with ornamentation) are safe from prosecution.