On August 29, 2018, the Center for Empirical Studies of Intellectual Property hosted a talk by Professor Edward Lee on his study of fair use as a potential defense to copyright infringement in music cases.
Professor Lee began with a case study of the recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision against Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke upholding a district court ruling that their song “Blurred Lines” infringed the copyright of Marvin Gaye’s 1977 song “Got to Give It Up.”
Professor Lee explained that instead of arguing only that there was no infringement, the defendants should have asserted a fair use defense, a rare tactic in music cases.
This recap includes the video from this talk along with links to Professor Lee’s recent publications on the topic of fair use in music cases.
Continue reading “Event Recap: Fair Use Avoidance in Music Cases”