Copyright Infringement Of The Happy Birthday Song, Along...

Copyright is set out to protect the original artists’ creative work from imitations for a limited time, until it enters the Public Domain. Creators may view this as a much needed law to prevent infringement, which grants the lawful artist the rights to their respective work. However, continuing this practice is redundant as copyright does not accomplish what it has been set out to do. The Blurred Lines Case is used to convey how the Lay Listener Test fails to determine copyright infringement. Adele’s plagiarism allegation is reviewed to show the copies of other work, suggesting that copyright cannot determine who holds original authorship. The invalid copyright of The Happy Birthday Song, along with The Walt Disney Company’s lobbying†¦show more content†¦This showed that jurors were unable to determine if songs were guilty of copyright infringement; since a large majority of Jurors (84.8%) wrongfully stated that the original and the copied song were diff erent in composition. Elements of a Civil Copyright Infringement Claim consists of proving Ownership of a Valid Copyright, Actual Copying, and Misappropriation. Actual Copying is proven through direct or indirect evidence that shows a â€Å"striking similarity† between the two works. In the Blurred Lines Case, indirect â€Å"evidence† was used in â€Å"proving† music recording’s two copyright protections were infringement upon: (1) a copyright in the underlying composition and (2) a copyright in the sound recording. This is problematic as Blurred Lines did not infringe on the Actual Copying claim; jurors confused the underlying composition and sound recording for style, when style is not protectable copyright for music recordings. Copyright fails to determine composition and sound recordings in a Lay Listener Test, and give Thicke and William’s exclusive rights to their respective creations, illustrating how copyright is unreliable. Copyright law encourages the creation of â€Å"original† creative work. Yet, creation requires influence. It is not realistic to say that a song can be completely original, containing innovating composition and sound recording. Artists gain influence from other artists, who have adopted the style of the