A couple of months ago, I tried to write a blog post concerning
a lawsuit over the theme song for the
television show The Big Bang Theory. (Trivia answer: the theme song is apparently called "The
History of Everything"). I gave up
on this task because the blog was just
kind of boring and I thought to myself, "who cares about a lawsuit involving
a song used on The Big Bang Theory"?
Okay, I was
wrong. On December 28 two sisters,
Ellen Newlin Chase and Margaret Chase Perry sued the producers and broadcasters
of the show for copyright infringement for using their late mother's copyrighted
composition "Soft Kitty" without a license. Fans of the show (my wife and I are near- obsessive
fans) know the thematic importance of this song. It has been used on the show numerous times
and apparently is used in all types of merchandise associated with the show.
“Warm Kitty"
, written in 1937 by Edith Newlin was first published by a company called
Willis Music in a book entitled "Songs for the Nursery School". Apparently Warner Brothers Television
licensed the work from Willis Music even though it appeared that Ms. Newlin
never assigned the copyright to the composition to Willis. As late as last
summer, Willis Music was proudly touting its association with the song and the show on its website.
Much like
the "Happy Birthday" case, the resolution of this case may depend on a
review of old documents (for example, is there a contract somewhere giving
Willis Music the right to issue synchronization licenses for television shows?) This kind of situation must be a nightmare
for people who work in music licensing- trying to ascertain who has the rights
to a particular musical work.
If the case
goes forward, it might also be of interest to those of us who worry about
indemnity clauses all day. Certainly
somebody warranted to Warner Brothers Television that they own the rights to
license this composition and I am sure they backed up this warranty with an
indemnity clause. This will be an
interesting case to watch.
However,
until this is resolved I am more concerned with how Sheldon will get to
sleep.
1 comment:
...the song remains the same...
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