Australian songwriter Alan Caswell has lost a 10 year legal battle with music publisher ATV Sony over similarities between his song ‘On The Inside’ and Alabama’s ‘Christmas In Dixie’.
Caswell’s ‘On The Inside’ was written in 1978 for the TV series Prisoner. The song sung by Lynne Hamilton was the theme from the show and a number one hit in Australia and number three in UK.
US country band Alabama recorded ‘Christmas In Dixie’ and released it as a single originally in 1982 and then again on their 1985 Christmas album ‘Alabama Christmas’. It bares a remarkable similarity to the Caswell song but is credited to Alabama.
Caswell initiated action against Alabama and his own publisher Sony ATV for plagiarism back in 2004 but lost the case today. The issue for Allan was Sony ATV is the publisher of both songs.
Alabama are estimated to have earned over $700,000 from the song that sounds incredibly similar to Allan’s.
In a statement at his Facebook page Allan posted:
“We Lost
“My case in the NSW Supreme Court against Sony has been decided … in Sony’s favour. After 10 years of chasing Sony ATV to do the right thing it gets to this. All I can say is they must have had a good legal case, because in the real world and with any sense of logic, there were holes in their defence that you could drive a truck through.
“This ruling cuts to the heart of the songwriter/ publisher relationship. There are 2 main reasons for signing a publishing agreement income and protection.
“Sony have damaged one and destroyed the other.
“My legal team will now examine the judgment so that we can work out our grounds for appeal and I will figure out how to raise the funds for it … this is not over, I have nothing to lose and I am a songwriter … how would I know if I was bankrupt or not?”
Make up you own mind. Here are both songs.
Alabama – Christmas In Dixie
Lynne Hamilton – On The Inside
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