"We Shall Overcome" In The Public Domain

In a significant decision issued on Friday, Judge Denise Cote granted summary judgment in favor of the class action plaintiff organizations against the owners of the publishing rights to Pete Seeger's iconic civil rights song "We Shall Overcome," finding that the original 1948 copyrighted version of the sheet music (with lyrics), which was owned by Seeger's company, People's Songs, Inc. ("PSI") and had fallen into the public domain in 1976, was not sufficiently different from the core portions of later versions recorded in 1960 and 1963, in which derivative copyrights were claimed by the defendant music publishers. Judge Cote agreed with the plaintiffs "that the lyrics and melody in the first verse and its identical fifth verse ("Verse 1/5") of the Song are not sufficiently original to qualify for copyright registration as a derivative work." The opinion goes through a detailed, lengthy history of the song's genesis.