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In a class action filed on Tuesday in New York federal court,
the makers of a planned documentary film have asked a U.S. judge
to declare the protest song in the public domain, allowing
anyone to use it without paying licensing fees.
The lawyers who filed the case, from the firm Wolf Haldenstein
Adler Freeman & Herz, previously won a ruling last year that the
world's most popular tune, "Happy Birthday," was not subject to
copyright.
Tuesday's lawsuit was filed against New York-based The Richmond
Organization (TRO) and its label Ludlow Music Inc.
According to the complaint, TRO filed copyrights for "We Shall
Overcome" in 1960 and 1963 and has collected millions of dollars
in fees over the decades.
A woman who answered the phone at TRO on Tuesday declined to
comment and would not say whether the company had retained a
lawyer to defend against the lawsuit.
"We Shall Overcome" was closely associated with the civil rights
movement during the 1960s. The song is likely based on an old
African-American spiritual, according to the lawsuit.
The We Shall Overcome Foundation, the plaintiff, is seeking to
produce a documentary film about song and its relationship to
the civil rights movement. The group asked for permission to use
the music in the film but was turned down by TRO, according to
the lawsuit.
"This was never copyrightable to begin with," Mark Rifkin, the
lead attorney for the plaintiff, said in a phone interview. "The
song had been in the public domain for many, many years before
anyone tried to copyright it."
In February, Warner/Chappell Music, a unit of Warner Music
Group, agreed to pay $14 million to end the "Happy Birthday"
lawsuit and drop its copyright claim to the song.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Tom Brown)
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