In Brazil, justice frowns against Adele. A judge has in fact ordered a ban on worldwide reproduction of the song Million Years Ago of the British pop star, as part of a complaint for plagiarism from a samba composer.
The judicial decision prohibits the Brazilian subsidiaries of Sony Music and Universal Music, the singer's record labels, from “using, reproducing, editing, distributing or marketing” this title “at a global level” and “in any medium”, under penalty a fine of 50,000 reais (approximately 7,800 euros).
A “turning point for Brazilian music”
Composer Toninho Geraes filed a complaint for plagiarism, saying the 2015 song Million Years Ago had copied the melody of the title Womena success performed by the sacred monster of samba Martinho da Vila in an album released twenty years earlier, in 1995.
“This is a turning point for Brazilian music, which, due to the richness of its melodies, its harmony and its rhythms, is often copied to compose international hits,” lawyer Fredimio Trotta, lawyer for the Brazilian composer. According to him, this legal decision should “dissuade” other plagiarism attempts by “parasitic profiteers”. The Brazilian subsidiaries of Sony Music and Universal Music can appeal.
Already a controversy in Türkiye
In the complaint for plagiarism currently being analyzed by a court in Rio de Janeiro, Toninho Geraes' defense is demanding, among other things, one million reais (around 155,000 euros) in damages. Brazil is also a signatory to the Berne Convention of 1886 on the international protection of the rights of authors in their works.
Another controversy over the song Million Years Ago had already exploded in Türkiye, when Internet users said they had identified similarities with the tune of the title holding on to painby the Kurdish singer Ahmet Kaya, who died in 2000.
