Hey! That’s Mine!

Hey! That's Mine!

What do the following songs have in common? Ghostbusters, Ice Ice Baby, My Sweet Lord. All of these songs were involved in copyright infringement lawsuits. These lawsuits were brought against the artists that performed them because the songs closely resembled, and in one case copied note for note, those of other musicians and/or composers. Phrases such as copyright infringement and piracy are becoming very common in today's periodicals. To understand these phrases and their importance, one must first understand what a copyright is, how a copyright is acquired, and how it is enforced.

Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States to the authors of "original works of authorship", including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. (Copyright Basics, 2007) In other words, if a person writes a song and goes through the proper steps of acquiring a copyright for the song it is protected against infringement. "Original works of authorship" encompasses a plethora of categories including: literary works, musical works (including words), dramatic works (including music), pantomimes and choreographic works, pictorial, graphic and sculptural works, motion pictures and other audiovisual works, sound recordings, and architectural works. (Copyright Basics, 2007) These categories are very broad in range. In most cases, copyrights last for the life of the originator plus an