Popular songs not popular with the artists who recorded them

[riley]

^ One slight variation on the story that's missing:

Harrison was later sued for copyright infringement over the song "My Sweet Lord" due to its similarity to the 1963 Chiffons song "He's So Fine". He denied deliberately plagiarizing the song, but lost the resulting court case in 1976, as the judge ruled that he had subconsciously plagiarized the earlier composition. The dispute over damages became complicated when Harrison's former manager Allen Klein purchased the copyright to "He's So Fine" from the publishing firm Bright Tunes in 1978 for $587,000. In 1981, a district judge decided that Klein had acted improperly, and it was agreed that Harrison would pay back Klein the same $587,000 so Klein would not make a profit from his purchase, and that Harrison would take over ownership of Bright Tunes, making him the owner of the rights to both songs and thus ending the copyright infringement claim. Though the dispute dragged on into the 1990s, the district judge's decision was eventually upheld.

There would be no need to continue the suit after 1981 if Klein was working with Harrison, but instead he had tried to get in the middle of the original lawsuit and pick up the rights to the song to make even more money off Harrison. The judge ruled against Klein, let George purchase the rights to "He's so Fine" and the district court upheld this decision. So, it looks like the original copyright holders got $587,000 for a 1963 song that wasn't worth much in 1971...not bad.

Maybe Haley should sue all the people doing covers of her songs or filming her performances on Youtube for copyright infringement...oh, but this is the age of everything is in the public domain and digital downloading for free...my mistake.

Ah times they are a changin'