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Father(S?) Of Rock & Roll: Why The Johnnie Johnson V. Chuck Berry Songwriting Suit Should Change The Way Copyright Law Determines Joint Authorship, Timothy J. Mcfarlin
Father(S?) Of Rock & Roll: Why The Johnnie Johnson V. Chuck Berry Songwriting Suit Should Change The Way Copyright Law Determines Joint Authorship, Timothy J. Mcfarlin
Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law
"Father(s?) of Rock & Roll" utilizes a unique and historic resource--the previously unseen deposition testimony of Chuck Berry and his piano man Johnnie Johnson--to analyze the problems with how copyright law currently determines joint authorship and to propose a new "Berry-Johnson" joint authorship test. In 2000, Johnson sued Berry, claiming he co-wrote the music to nearly all the significant songs in the Berry canon. Granted access to the case file, I quote and analyze key portions of their deposition testimony, using it as a case study of high-level collaborative creativity and exploring what it can teach us about how best …