Pryor Cashman Partner Ross M. Bagley, who is a member of the firm's Litigation and Intellectual Property Groups, was quoted in a pair of articles about a current copyright battle involving actor and musician Johnny Depp, guitarist Jeff Beck, and SUNY Buffalo professor Bruce Jackson over who owns the copyright to a song based on the poem "Hobo Ben."
The case, which is currently before the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, focuses on a song that appears on Depp and Beck's album 18, which Jackson says infringes the copyright of his poem "Hobo Ben." The complicating factor is that "Hobo Ben" is based on a poem Jackson transcribed from a federal inmate named Slim WIlson in the 1960s; that original poem is part of an oral folklore tradition, which complicates the issue of ownership
In "Johnny Depp and Jeff Beck Sue Folklorist Accusing Them of Stealing Lyrics to 'Hobo Ben' Poem," Ross tells IPWatchdog, "This is an unusual case, in which the plaintiffs are acknowledging copying but challenging ownership because the work isn't original to the defendant," adding, "If 'Hobo Ben' was handed down through an oral tradition, as Jackson seems to admit, and he merely transcribed it, then he probably does not have any basis to stop Depp or Beck from using it or to compel them to attribute it to Slim Wilson or anyone else."
Discussing the same matter in "Johnny Depp offers public domain argument in copyright suit over song lyrics", Ross told Westlaw's Intellectual Property Daily Briefing, "The plaintiffs are acknowledging copying but challenging ownership because the work isn't original to the defendant...To show ownership for a copyright claim, one must not only show the work was 'fixed in a tangible medium ofexpression,' but also that they added something original."
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