Letter from the Editor-in-Chief

THOMAS A. WARD
Editor-in-Chief of New Matter

WELCOME TO THE WINTER EDITION of New Matter for 2024. The cover of this edition showcases the filing of a lawsuit in September of 2024 by the authors of Bruno Mars’ "When I Was Your Man" accusing Miley Cyrus of copyright infringement with her song "Flowers." It’s interesting to play the songs, look at the words, and decide for yourself if they meet the test of substantial similarity for copyright infringement. For myself, I never noticed any similarity until it was pointed out by the lawsuit.

A similar copyright infringement action was brought against George Harrison of the Beatles for his song "My Dear Lord" by the authors of "She’s So Fine," a song from the 1960s sung by The Chiffons. As with "Flowers," I didn’t notice any similarity prior to the lawsuit. It’s interesting that the tunes for "My Dear Lord" and "She’s So Fine" sound exactly the same, but the words are completely different. However, the tune in "Flowers" has differences from "When I Was Your Man," and the words do overlap, unlike in the "My Dear Lord." In 1981, George Harrison was ordered to pay $587,000 for subconsciously plagiarizing "She’s So Fine." George Harrison testified that he had heard The Chiffon’s song, but that he subconsciously rather than intentionally copied the music. It will be interesting to see the fate of Miley Cyrus’ "Flowers."

For this issue, I continue to thank our New Matter editorial staff for accomplishing the work to get this publication to you. In particular, thanks to Amanda Nye who is the Acquisition Editor, Anthony Craig and Leaf Williams who are Co-Production Editors, and Dabney Eastham who is Senior Articles Editor.