Stephanie Wickenden has successfully defended a copyright claim brought against Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sir Trevor Nunn in relation to the copyright in the song “Memory” from the famous musical production of “Cats”. The claim was struck out last week by the High Court and was held by Master Brightwell to be “totally without merit”.

The Claimant, Mr Philip Christian, who allegedly wrote a song he called “Midnight” claimed that a recording of it was overheard by a dancer at the Pineapple dance studios in London and later relayed to Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber who reproduced it when composing “Memory”. In his judgment, Master Brightwell described the claim as “inherently incredible” and “entirely fanciful and entirely hopeless”. Upon the Claimant indicating that he may pursue similar claims against other well-known performers and songwriters, Master Brightwell noted that he intended to refer the matter to a High Court Judge to consider whether it was appropriate to make a civil restraint order against the Claimant.

This claim has been reported by several news outlets including the Times, for which see here.

Stephanie Wickenden was instructed by Steven Tregear and Alice Rudge at Russells for Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Nick White and James Yow at Charles Russell Speechlys for Trevor Nunn.