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Law Cases
Intellectual Property Law Cases
Copyright 1: Justifications Cases

Sawkins v Hyperion Records Ltd [2005] EWCA Civ 565

Country:
United Kingdom
By Oxbridge Law Team
First line of rea...

  • Claimant, a musicologist, did research into the out of copyright music of a French composer from 1600s, Lalande.

  • Claimant had found the music, made corrections and additions to pieces to make them playable, amended bass lines and corrected wrong notes.

  • Defendant, Hyperion, released an album upon which recordings of Lalande’s work based upon Claimant’s scores had been made.

  • Defendant paid Claimant a fee for providing the scores, but refused to pay royalties on grounds that an editor had not created a ‘musical work’.

  • Held:

First line of reasoning

  • Subsistence of copyright requires an assessment of the whole of work over which copyright is claimed.

  • ‘Musical works’ includes not only the music, but any other elements which contribute towards sound of music when played

    • Thus the tempos, performing indications could be covered by musical copyright.

    • Provided they are a product of Claimant’s ‘effort and skill’

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