What happens to the YouTube covers?
Disney, Idina Menzel, Demi Lovato and others are facing a lawsuit over copyright infringement from the Frozen song "Let It Go." The suit was filed Thanksgiving weekend and says the song was in part taken from a 2008 piece by Chilean-born songwriter and producer Jaime Ciero.
While Disney can battle the suit, the final decision will have a big impact on whether or not the covers of "Let It Go" will remain on YouTube, as they too could be violating copyright and that would include this cover from Pearl Jam.
The suit states: "Since its initial release and publication, the Subject Song was a huge
international success, reaching millions of listeners and landing on numerous charts of
the most popular and top-performing songs. It has been professionally recorded and
widely and publicly performed in this District and throughout the United States and
the world by means of records, radio, streaming channels, television, video, audio, and other media. Recordings of and other copies of the Subject Song have also been widely published, broadcast, and/or sold throughout the United States, including in this District."
RELATED: Top 10 Covers of Frozen song ‘Let It Go’
After seeing the results of the Marvin Gaye lawsuit against Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke over "Blurred Lines," Ciero will need to be able to produce a valid copyright registration to the underlying musical composition and/or sheet music. The suit notes: ""Volar" was registered with ASCAP before the infringement at issue and that Ciero submitted both versions of the Subject Song to the United States Copyright Office for registration, and complied with all necessary formalities in doing so."
"Let It Go" is the theme song from Disney's Frozen, a worldwide phenomenon in movies and music. The movie grossed $1,276,480,335 worldwide, while the song hit the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, won both the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2014 and the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media in 2015 and has numerous covers being recorded in different languages.
It can also be noted, Disney settled another lawsuit involving Frozen, in which Kelly Wilson claimed that the teaser trailer was very similar to her short animated film The Snowman.
Check out the song, "Volar," which is allegedly what was used to create the Frozen song, "Let It Go" and tell us what you think.