Selle Vs Gibb Case Summary

Selle V. Gibb The case at hand is one of alleged copyright infringement on a musical composition, specifically on the basis of substantial similarity and access. When establishing a claim of copyright infringement of a musical composition, the plaintiff must prove ownership of copyright, originality of the work, copying of the work by the defendant, and a substantial degree of similarity between the two works. The composer, Ronald Selle, claims that the three Gibb brothers, also known as the popular Bee Gees group, wrote the song, “How Deep Is Your Love”, infringing the copyright of the song, “Let it End”.
Selle is an antiques dealer, a part-time musician, a composer of popular songs and religious music. Selle claims that he wrote “Let It End” in the fall of 1975 and obtained his copyright that same year on November 17th. The extent of public dissemination of Selle’s song was as follows: The song was …show more content…
The two songs played simultaneously do not sound noticeably similar. When going up against people or corporations that are famous, the court costs are not worth it. Illinois plays a huge role in musical history. When thinking about the judge’s perspective, he may have thought that there was no way he was going to rule in favor of a guy that works at an antique shop. If the decision would have been ruled differently, Selle would have been impacted greatly with the royalties that he would have collected. On the other hand, would it have affected the Bee Gees? Maybe a little financially, but this wouldn’t have stopped them from writing big hits. Seeing this from a thriving musician standpoint, one can come to the conclusion that the little guy is more than likely always going to lose against those bigger than us. That goes to show how the industry has worked for the last several decades; however it is slowly changing for the