17-CV-1471 S.D. N.Y. (2018)
Complaining Work |
Defending Work |
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Paul Rose “Nae Slappin'”
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Paul Hewson, aka “Bono”, et al. “The Fly” |
Comment by Charles Cronin
The defendants’ Memorandum of Law (below) handily dismantles the plaintiff’s clumsy and borderline fatuous claims of similarity between the songs at issue based on nothing more than both parties use of ideas and sounds that are utterly commonplace in the genre of rock music. The Complaint (below) provides the defendants’ attorneys ample fodder for ridicule, but nowhere more than in its itemized list of purportedly telling musical similarities that include the gnomic and musically and legally meaningless statement that “The dimensions of sound of the songs are substantially similar or literal in specific fragments.” In fact, the only noticeable musical similarity between the works is a three-note descending motif that is used as a springboard for some dissimilar solo guitar noodlings that follow in both numbers.
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On January 30th, 2018, in a refreshing display of common sense and self-assurance, Judge Denise Cote, dismissed this claim, finding that no reasonable juror could find the works similar. In fact, the similarities posited in the Complaint itself involved merely abstract ideas and meaningless elements like “dimensions of sound.”