Dark Horse litigation back in court, but judges cautious of over-extending copyright

completemusicupdate.com:

Judges in the US Ninth Circuit appeals court maintained their skeptical position yesterday regarding extending copyright protection to short segments of music.

Or at least that’s how it seemed as Christian rapper Marcus Gray tried to persuade them to overturn a lower court judgement in his song theft legal battle with Katy Perry.Gray accuses Perry and her collaborators of ripping off his song ‘Joyful Noise’ on her 2013 hit ‘Dark Horse’.

The two songs both contain the same repeating ostinato, described by the Perry side in previous legal filings as “merely two pitches that repeat – a C and B note – on evenly spaced notes, in a sparse setting, played on a synthesiser”.At first instance, Gray was successful in convincing a jury that, by borrowing the ostinato, ‘Dark Horse’ infringed the ‘Joyful Noise’ copyright.

And, as a result, Perry and her songwriting pals were ordered to pay Gray and his team $2.8 million in damages.However, the judge overseeing the original case – Christina Snyder – then overturned the jury’s decision.