An Indiana songwriter's copyright infringement lawsuit against singer Britney Spears over the song "Sometimes" has been dismissed because she was able to show it wasn't copied, her attorney said Tuesday.

"I cannot emphasize enough this was not a settlement but a dismissal," said David R. Baum, an attorney for Spears and her co-defendants. No money will change hands, he said.

U.S. District Judge John D. Tinder in Indianapolis last week dismissed the lawsuit by Steve Wallace.

Wallace sued Spears, her album promoter, Sony/BMG Music Publishing Inc., and recording and publishing companies affiliated with the singer, claiming he had written the song 15 years ago.

The complaint acknowledged Wallace did not formally copyright his song until 2003. A few weeks after writing it in 1990, he executed what's commonly known as a "poor man's" copyright in which he placed his work in a sealed envelope and obtained a postmark. He shopped the song to publishers in 1994.

--Judge Tinder is a great judge. I'm sure this was the right decision.

UPDATE: A keen legal eye pointed out to me after some legal investigation was done, that Judge Tinder didn't actually dismiss the case himself. The parties signed a stipulated order for dismissal. So, in essence, the parties agreed to the dismissal themselves.

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Posted by Lawren at November 9, 2005 09:04 AM | Trackbacks (0)

You Said

...which means that this guy was THE songwriter but unfortunately did NOT get it published. Every 1st Jew Lawyer will tell you that in songwrting this is the number one reason so many Black singers and songwriters got screwed out of royalties by the White man!

The rights to the song are the most important thing, look at the Nip Yoko Ono, she leases out John Lennon's/the Beatles crap tunes out all the time!

Nice!

Says: Johnny Chicago at November 9, 2005 07:44 PM

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as a lawyer, I can assure you that if the parties stipulated to a dismissal, that means that the case settled, which means that brit paid the guy off...

Says: at November 10, 2005 09:03 AM

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