Lawyer Monthly - November 2021 Edition

1 9 9 0 Vanilla Ice vs. Queen and David Bowie To begin this case round-up, it bears repeating that copyright is distinguished from other forms of intellectual property by its focus on original works of authorship – on tangible forms of creation such as writing or drawings. As opposed to ideas or brands, which would respectively be covered by patents or trademarks, copyrights are attached to works of literature, art and other works, guaranteeing their creators the sole rights to their use and distribution. It should come as no surprise, then, that the highly profitable music industry has witnessed some of the largest copyright disputes in history. Perhaps most famous among these came in the wake of the 1990 release of Vanilla Ice’s song Ice Ice Baby. Listeners quickly found that Ice had sampled the bass line of Under Pressure, Queen and David Bowie’s hit single produced in collaboration a decade prior, without crediting the original creators. Representatives of the artists threatened to bring a copyright infringement claim in retaliation and, in a now infamous defence of his song, Ice argued that the melodies of the two songs were distinct because his work added a note to the end of the sampled riff. He later retracted this statement, claiming that it was intended as a joke. The case was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, with both Bowie and Queen members receiving songwriting credits on the track. While largely remembered today for the enduring pop culture legacy it created, the case also sparked discussions around sampling in music, as well as the punitive nature of cases of copyright infringement and whether enough was being done to punish cases of overt plagiarism. It was argued by some that Ice had not adequately compensated Queen and Bowie for the loss of potential credibility caused by his appropriation of the melody, which now inextricably links their work to him without their having been offered a chance to refuse. 3 WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM 19 David Bowie - Sound and Vision Tour - 5th September 1990 - Zagreb, Croatia Credit: Les Zg (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)