Madonna Wins Copyright Infringement Case for Song “Vogue”

Back during the decade that was her reign as a successful singer, Madonna released the song Vogue which is now considered a classic. The tune sold six million copies as a single making one of the best-selling singles of all time. That was all those years ago.

However, in July of last year, word began to spread of an impending lawsuit against Madonna for copyright infringement by the company VMG Salsoul. VMG Salsoul alleged that new technology, which allows for the isolation of individual sounds in a song, would prove that the singer used their 1977 disco tune “Chicago Bus Stop (Ooh I Love it)” as part of the basis for her smash hit “Vogue”. Obviously, VMG Salsoul wanted the singer to fork over money.

“Having listened to the sound recordings of Chicago Bus Stop, Love Break and Vogue, the Court finds that no reasonable audience would find the sampled portions qualitatively or quantitatively significant in relation to the infringing work, nor would they recognize the appropriation,” the ruling reads. “The Court finds that any sampling of the Horn Hit was de minimis or trivial.”

In the aftermath of Ex-Beatle George Harrison’s protracted lawsuit over the song “My Sweet Lord” many artists prefer to settle out of court. Madonna would have nothing of it and fought the matter out before a judge who ruled entirely in her favor yesterday. In the ruling, the judge declared that no reasonable audience would conclude that the song was embedded in Madonna’s tune beyond a trivial or insignificant level. It appears to have been the judicial version of the type of slap that rhymes with the word “stitch”.

You be the judge!

On The Web:
Madonna wins Vogue lawsuit
http://blog.sfgate.com/dailydish/2013/11/20/madonna-wins-vogue-lawsuit/
Report: Madonna To Be Sued Over ‘Vogue’ Copyright Infringement
http://thatgrapejuice.net/2012/07/report-madonna-sued-vogue-copyright-infringement/