JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum "interpolation" - stealing or not?

Lawsuits are so expensive and music has been copied and recopied so long that without corporate deep pockets and tons of money to be gained, it is almost not even worth pursuing. Someone like Kiss will sue, but Joe 6 Pack can't ever really protect their work from theft and frankly never could. The terror so many newbies have over fear of song theft has always been ridiculous when it comes to music/melodies. Lyrics are a tiny bit easier at least it is plain to see the words were copied or they weren't, but you must prove they were likely accessible and way more money has been wasted protecting useless songs you couldn't give away than money made from all lawsuits, including huge successful ones, ever made back. It is a scam in my view. But now legal system is simply too stacked in favor of major corporations and uber wealthy. The judicial system exists to protect Elites from poor people, not the other way around like people think.

Seems to me that the Supreme Court is doing more to protect rich people, just sayin'

Sure, the little guy can sue, if a law firm works on a contingency fee, which means...

1. they pay the costs, and get 33% of the award
2. you get the rest, but that can be a lot of money.
3. that All of the above is contingent on a strong case, plenty of evidence, and the target has deep pockets.

I was part of a lawsuit that sued Uber, a mammoth company, and I got a lot of money, more money than I had ever seen in my life.

I recently signed onto a lawsuit as a class member, suing Google. Might not win, but, then again, we might.

Great to hear you are wealthy. I have been in lawsuits that I won, but still got nothing. 2 of them as a matter of fact. In the end, the judge of one case said I would have to sue an additional party to get the real payoff, but I just wasn't willing to go through 7 more years of nonsense. So it is nice to hear someone got something. But the rarity of that proves my point. You had the right representation. Most people do not get that. Few cases resolve in what is right, most are just about settling for next to nothing to mitigate a big judgement for malfeasance. In most corporate lawsuits involving government charges, money goes into a nebulous "fine" by the government, who just hands it back to their Elite overlords rather than paying it to the public who was wronged (poisoned, stolen from etc.). Most of these corporations are insured so no result punishes them at all. They string most things out for a long long time hoping plaintiffs give up, or die off. Then they settle with survivors and move on. Getting a settlement from a big company is very rare and usually only happens in open and shut level cases. (Maybe that is what you had). In those cases, sure, go for it. But in a copyright case, it is NEVER open and shut for the little guy or gal. Even when caught red handed, they will string it out to get you to settle at most. Proving infringement is more about lasting through a marathon. So much music has been made, that often the defense ends up being "we didn't steal from YOU, we stole them this other artist/songwriter" who just happens to be on the small label or with the same publisher or both. That happens a lot. There just isn't much left that hasn't been done. 12 notes is 12 notes. Most melodies involved 5 notes or less. You can almost always find something else done before any claim.

So basically, I can make millions like this??


"Interpolation" by NOT Rod Stewart

Caught me stealin' like a thievin' shark
But you won't bite despite your bark
Too expensive if ya try to sue
There ain't nothin' that you can do
Oh yeah, play it again
It sounds so good
with another band
Interpolation
Interpolation!