So goes the saying in the US entertainment industry. What it
means is this: If you have a successful hit, you may pretty much
expect to be sued by someone who will claim that you've
infringed their copyright.
Yet, notwithstanding this, cases involving infringement of music
copyright are fairly rare. Yes, it's well known that there was
an out-of-court settlement after claims were made that Sam
Smith's hit single Stay with Me infringed
the copyright in an old Tom Petty song. And, yes a few years back
we did write on an interesting case involving Elton John's old
hit
Nikita. What happened in that case was that a certain Guy Hobbs
sued Elton John for having infringed the copyright in a song that
he had written called Natasha, a song that he claimed
he had sent to Elton John before the release
of Nikita. A US court found against Hobbs, saying
that although the two songs shared certain features – such as
the themes of a cold war love affair and unanswered
