Michael Bolton vs the Isley Brothers

Michael Bolton and the Isley Brothers ended up in a court battle for the copyright of a song that was first written and recorded by the Isley Brothers in 1964.

Background 

The Isley Brothers is a popular rhythm and blues group. They were known for songs such as “Shout,” “This Old Heart of Mine,” “Twist and Shout,” “Fight the Power,” “Who’s That Lady,” and  “Love is a Wonderful Thing.” The latter was written and recorded by the Isley Brothers for United Artists. They received the copyright for this song in 1964. The United Artists released the song as a single in 1966. The song ended up at number 110 on the chart of “Bubbling Under the Hot 100.” Michael Bolton rose to fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Bolton led a soul-music revival for songs by Percy Sledge and Otis Redding. In 1991 Bolton teamed up with Goldmark to write a song called “Love Is a Wonderful Thing.” The song was released as a single the same year and landed at number 49 on Billboard’s year-end pop chart. 

By February 1992, the Isley Brothers had filed a copyright infringement suit against Bolton. There was a trifurcated trial. The first phase of the trial took place in April 1994. Bolton was found guilty of infringing on the Isley Brothers copyright. The second phase of the case took place five days later. The jury determined that part of the profits from Bolton’s “Time, Love and Tenderness” on which “Love Is a Wonderful Thing” was featured and commercial uses of the song should be awarded to the Isley Brothers.

Bolton ended up filing a motion for judgement on the May 25, 1994 deadline for post-trial motions and a second one on June 8, 1994 for a new trial. However, both motions were denied by the district court on August 11, 1994.

Based on the verdict of the second phase of the case, Sony Music, Bolton, Goldmark, and their respective music publishing companies were required to pay the Isley Brothers a total of $5.4 million in damages. A motion was filed to review the decision to award the Isley Brothers these monetary damages. However, the the supreme court declined the review. 

Reaction to the Verdict 

Bolton was quite surprised by the jury’s verdict. According to Rolling Stone, he wanted to purchase the Isley Brothers catalog from the surviving Isley Brother. If this purchase had been successful, the copyright infringement dispute would have immediately ended. Bolton, Goldmark, and Sony Music concluded that the district court lacked evidence to support that the infringing party actually had access to the Isley Brother’s song. Furthermore, they claimed that the jury had no evidence to prove that the songs by the Isley Brothers and Bolton were similar in nature. 

Furthermore, there was no evidence that supported the jury’s distribution of profits to the Isley Brothers. Sony argued that a successful copyright plaintiff is only eligible for profits pertinent to the infringement. Therefore, the $5.4 million awarded to the Isley Brothers is not applicable to such a case. Furthermore, Sony indicated that Bolton only received five to 10 percent of profits from his album under which “Love Is a Wonderful Thing” is featured.