A US District Court judge has ruled that Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin didn’t steal the lyrics to the song “Nikita”.
You might recall that Elton John was recently involved in a public and legal dispute about the fact that a South African man and songwriter, Guy Hobbs, had claimed Elton had stolen the lyrics to his song “Natasha”.
Following a relationship with a Ukrainian waitress called Natasha, Hobbs had written his lyrics and submitted them to several publishing companies, but he got turned down.
In 1985, the song suddenly popped up on the radio as a new Elton John single, but it took Hobbs a while to do anything about this because he hadn’t until 2001 made the connection between the two songs.
Hobbs said back in May:
After writing to Elton John several times without receiving a response, I have decided to take the matter to court. I am suing him for plagiarising the lyrics. Over the years my case gets stronger and stronger. I have experts that say I have a good case.
Well, that isn’t the case, because US District Judge Amy St. Eve said what was similar in the songs was not enough to infringe the Copyright Act. Ace Showbiz reports:
US District Judge Amy St. Eve took notice that there were some phrases that were the same in the two songs such as “you’ll never know” and “I need you.” She noted, “Of these listed similarities, there are certain themes or ideas that Hobbs argues are protected under the Copyright Act, including the impossible love affair during the Cold War, a postal theme, and references to a woman’s pale eyes.”
However, “these themes are not protected under the Copyright Act because they are rudimentary, commonplace, and standard under the scenes a faire doctrine. Moreover, phrases and themes that are common, trite, or cliched are not protected under copyright laws.” She concluded, “In other words, the ubiquity of the common sayings sprinkled throughout both ‘Nikita’ and ‘Natasha,’ along with the repeated use of these commons phrases and sayings in other songs, establish that Defendants’ lyrics to ‘Nikita’ do not infringe on Hobbs’ lyrics to ‘Natasha’.”
[Source: AceShowbiz]
