Re: Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of copyright infringement claims
I hope Chuck Lorre has to cough up ONE BILLION DOLLARS based solely on the fact that he's a talentless hack who has profited altogether too much from writing the shittiest jokes in the world.
Re: Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of copyright infringement claims
The J.S. Bach estate to file a lawsuit next, pointing out that an arpeggiated introduction is precisely what he composed in the very first piece in the Well-Tempered Clavier, the Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C Major (Youtube link).
Re: Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of copyright infringement claims
To be fair, the Mighty Zep have been accused of this for years by various critics. Here's a Cracked article about it from 6 years ago. According to the article, Randy himself never had a desire to sue.
I remember reading an interview with Pagey where he said he thought "Stairway" sounded closer to "Hit The Road Jack." That sounds even bullshittier to me, but who knows. IMHO, Zep's various ripoff sins are on a spectrum from outright theft, to incomplete attribution, to mere tribute. I don't really know where this one belongs.
__________________
"Her eyes in certain light were violet, and all her teeth were even. That's a rare, fair feature: even teeth. She smiled to excess, but she chewed with real distinction." - Eleanor of Aquitaine
Re: Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of copyright infringement claims
The more I think about it the more it makes sense. There's a hit song that ripped off a bit of one of The Gories' songs. When I pointed it out to Mick he said he was going to give the guy hell the next time he saw him. But after thinking a bit he just shrugged it off with "talent borrows, genius steals." That doesn't mean his heirs won't decide they want the money, especially with judgements like the Blurred Lines one making it look like it's an easy pay day.
__________________
"freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order."
- Justice Robert Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Ed. v. Barnette