Music was just saved from a copyright apocalypse by a American judge – National
Copyright is one of the oldest laws still in use. The rules regarding the “right to copy” intellectual property were first protected by Great Britain’s Statute of Anne in 1710. The US followed with its own law a month later. Canada jumped on board in 1832 as a colony and reaffirmed it as a country in 1921. These laws protect creators and those who invest in something that benefits the public at large. Woe to anyone who tries to steal these ideas, concepts, and creations. Just ask Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams what they went through with their song Blurred Lines (which they lost), or Ed Sheeran, who battled over the originality of his Shape of You (in which he eventually prevailed).
Copyright, of course, extends to music. Great Britain clamped down on sheet music piracy in 1777, follow...






