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Abilene Music Inc. v. Sony Music Entertainment Inc.

Rap song properly makes key changes to lyrics in its use of first three lines of a famous song.

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Judge Lynch

ABILENE MUSIC, INC. v. SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, INC. In this action for copyright infringement, plaintiffs allege that defendants infringed their copyright in the famous song What a Wonderful World (Wonderful World) by issuing an album containing The Forest, a rap song that uses the first three lines of Wonderful World as its introduction. As defendant Sony Music Entertainment, Inc., (Sony) ¹ has conceded that plaintiffs have established a prima facie case of copyright infringement, Sonys liability turns on whether The Forests quotation of Wonderful World constitutes fair use, and therefore does not infringe plaintiffs copyright. Both sides now seek summary judgment on this issue. For the reasons discussed below, plaintiffs motion will be denied, and defendants motion will be granted.

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