Klarinet Archive - Posting 000985.txt from 2000/07

From: "Mark Charette" <charette@-----.org>
Subj: Re: [kl] RE: Mimicking players (was Learning practices)
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2000 08:31:42 -0400

Neil asks a difficult question of copyright law (as they all are!). If the
music is written out somewhere the answer is "it depends" - some courts
would hold them to be sufficiently original enough to be copyrightable, some
not.

In Tempo Music Inc. v. Famous Music Corp. (838 F. Supp. 162 (S.D.N.Y. 1993))
_harmonies_ composed by Duke Ellington to "Satin Doll" were considered
original enough for copyright protection. The court rejected the defendant's
that harmony "results only from the formulaic application of centuries-old
compositional rules". If I were a lawyer taking you to court, I'd certainly
cite this case.

Mark C.

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