George Harrison was sued for allegedly using the copyright of a song recorded by the Chiffons in 1963. Their song was called "He's So Fine," and George Harrison's song was entitled "My Sweet Lord".
Both songs contained the same melody but different words.
Here is a sample of each one from You Tube:
The courts heard the case and George Harrison was found guilty of subconsciously using the Chiffons song in creating his own. The ruling stated:
"His subconscious knew it already had worked in a song his conscious did not remember... That is, under the law, infringement of copyright, and is no less so even though subconsciously accomplished."
While the 2 songs sound extremely familiar, it's really hard for me to believe that a performer such as George Harrison, who was so very much in the lime light with the Beatles, would risk such a copyright violation. Subconsciously, perhaps. It's a very hard call to make in my opinion.
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