Music Infringement is a website founded by Professor Edward Lee in 2020 as musicians increasingly faced numerous copyright lawsuits for alleged infringement. The purpose of the website is educational. Copyright law is often complex and hard to understand. This site explains the current music lawsuits–the underlying facts or allegations, the nature of the alleged infringement in the song at issue, and how the court(s) decided the case.

Biography

Using empirical methods, doctrinal and theoretical analysis, and consideration of social science research of music, Prof. Lee’s scholarship provides a better understanding of copyright infringement lawsuits involving musical works. His 2018 study of all musical work cases decided since 1978 showed the surprising finding that nearly all music cases decided have avoided consideration of fair use outside of parodies. Lee describes this phenomenon as Fair Use Avoidance. His 2020 experimental study (with Dr. Andrew Moshirnia of Monash University) involving over 500 subjects then established such fair use avoidance was potentially costly. In two simulated music disputes, the subjects found no liability more often under fair use than under a contestation of the test of infringement. And subjects with a musical or legal background found fair use at a higher rate than others. Lee’s research is further explained in the companion site Music Fair Use.

Prof. Lee’s commentary on the recent high-profile music cases involving Pharrell Williams, Robin Thicke, and Katy Perry has been published by Billboard and The Washington Post.

Prof. Lee teaches copyright law, design law, trademark law, and international intellectual property law. He is a co-author of two leading casebooks The Law of Design and International Intellectual Property, both published by West. He is co-director of Chicago-Kent’s Program in Intellectual Property Law.

Education

• J.D., Harvard Law School, cum laude
• B.A., Williams College, summa cum laude

Cases

Prof. Lee joined an amicus brief in the following music cases:

Brief Amicus Curiae of the Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice Musician and Composers and Law, Music, and Business Professors in Supp. of Appellees, Williams v. Gaye, 2016 WL 7494673 (Dec. 28, 2016) submitted to the Ninth Circuit in support of the jury verdict against Pharrell Williams in Williams v. Gaye, 895 F.3d 1106, 1120-27(9th Cir. 2018).  [Ninth Circuit affirmed.]

Brief as Amicus Curiae Intellectual Property Professors in Supp. of Defendants-Appellees, Estate of Smith v. Cash Money Records, Inc. (July 19, 2019) submitted to the Second Circuit in support of the lower court’s finding of fair use by Drake in Estate of Smith v. Cash Money Records, Inc., 253 F. Supp. 3d 737, 742-43 (S.D.N.Y. 2017), aff’d, — Fed. Appx. –, 2020 WL 522013 (2d Cir. Feb. 3, 2020). [Second Circuit affirmed.]

Book

You can pre-order Lee’s book Creator’s Take Control: How NFTs Revolutionize Art, Business, and Entertainment, published on March 28, 2023.

Other projects

You can visit his site on AI art, DALLE and ChatGPT at chatgptiseatingtheworld.com.