Fordham Law alumna Ilene Farkas ’93 joined CBS News Sunday Morning and shared her expert opinion on music copyrights and lawsuits.
Lawyer Ilene Farkas has represented songwriters who are accused of stealing songs. “No one can own individual notes,” she said. “No one can own chord progressions. No one can own a guitar riff. No one certainly can own a feel of a song.”
She argues that there’s a difference between copying and inspiration: “The Beatles were inspired by Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones by the great Delta Blues artists and Robert Johnson, Elvis by B.B. King. They put their own spin and modern-day approach to it. And that’s what creativity is about.”