Patently Obvious

Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music with Mr. Bruce Rogow


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2 Live Crew was a successful rap group, hitting its stride in the 80s and 90s. On their 1989 album, As Clean as They Wanna Be, 2 Live Crew parodied Roy Orbison's famous song, "Oh Pretty Woman." Besides skewering its lyrics, 2 Live Crew appropriated large swaths of "Oh Pretty Woman"'s musical composition. Was that allowed under Copyright Law? The Supreme Court said "yes" in a 1994 case, concretizing the Fair Use Defense for copyright infringement and holding that certain transformative applications of copyrighted material were allowed under the law. 

We spoke to Mr. Bruce Rogow who litigated the case for Luther Campbell, 2 Live Crew's lead singer. Mr. Rogow has more than 55 years' experience in litigation and has taught courses at the University of Miami and Nova Southeastern University Law Schools. Mr. Rogow shared with us his passion for copyright law, the story behind this fascinating case, and his indispensable advice for young law students. 

Here's a link to the case: https://casetext.com/case/campbell-v-acuff-rose-music-inc

Correction: The podcast lists the album with the "Oh Pretty Woman" parody as As Nasty as They Wanna Be. In truth, the album with "Oh Pretty Woman" was 2 Live Crew's next album, As Clean as They Wanna Be

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Patently ObviousBy Michael Gniwisch

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