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Smith v. Dryden

[2021] EWHC 2277 (IPEC), 2021 WL 03566586 (2021)

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Smith v. Dryden

England and Wales High Court of Justice
[2021] EWHC 2277 (IPEC), 2021 WL 03566586 (2021)

  • Written by Liz Nakamura, JD

Facts

Kelly-Marie Smith (plaintiff) composed and wrote the lyrics for the song “Can You Tell Me” (“CYTM”), which was never released commercially. Kesi Dryden and James Newman, among others (collectively, the songwriters) (defendants) composed and wrote the lyrics for the song “Waiting All Night” (“WAN”), which was released in 2013 to considerable commercial success. Smith filed a copyright-infringement action against the songwriters, arguing that the melody and lyrics in the “WAN” chorus were copied from “CYTM.” Specifically, Smith pointed to the fact that both “CYTM” and “WAN” used the line “tell me that you need me” set to a similar melody. The songwriters countered, arguing that “WAN” was independently created. Newman submitted a taped, contemporaneous voice memo demonstrating how Newman came up with the melody and lyrics for the “WAN” chorus.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Zacaroli, J.)

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