One of the most long-drawn battles on copyright infringement that pitched pop diva Mariah Carey into a legal tussle came to a close today, on the September 26, 2007. This case had been ongoing for the last 1 year or so, with singer Rafael Chafir suing Mariah Carey for copying her song "Sexy", and refining some tunes to make her song, "It's like that!" Interesting to the naked eye and you would find the imbroglio even more intriguing when you get into the specifics!



Obviously, Sexy was released long before Mariah could come up with It's like that. Sexy, to common knowledge was released in 2004 and Rafael had the copyrights on the song. She had put up this song on the World Wide Web. And this, according to Rafael, was one source from where Mariah Carey stole her song. She claimed that Mariah had taken some key tunes and chords from the song, and refined it in It's like that.

Sounds like a valid argument, but when you consider what the ruling judge had to say about the whole story, you would find that there seems to be some kind of disconnect. Kimba Wood, a US District Court Judge, ruled in favor of Mariah stating that there wasn't enough evidence that Mariah or her collaborators sneaked in to the website and stole the song. But one thing that the Judge pointed out was, Mariah's tunes were not "strikingly similar" to Sexy, to deduce the case of copyright infringement. And while, Mariah and her collaborators can rejoice for now, but they should know that they were let off, only just!

Clearly, people who had heard Sexy, and It's like that are quick to point out striking similarities between the two. They clearly feel that It's like that seems to be a more refined version of Sexy, especially when you consider the tunes and the chorus. Thus, most people who had been following this case closely would say that Raphael was indeed at the receiving end of justice. Some of them have even gone on record to say that it was Mariah's standing and popularity that allowed her to get away with this. All said and done, this clearly was one episode Mariah could have avoided, had she been a touch careful with her tunes.

Road ahead for Mariah Carey - Well, it never has looked better for the singer. Her next album, The Emancipation of Mimi, is all set to release on the 4th December. From initial previews, it seems to be one heck of an effort from Mariah. By now, Mariah is already an established singer in her genre, and in spite of opposition from Christina Aguiliera and Shania Twain, she still manages to lead the pack.

Mariah fans, like Mariah can breathe easy. But even they too like Mariah know that these kinds of incidents should not be repeated ever after. If it does happen, the otherwise glittering music career of Mariah Carey could definitely come under the copyright hammer.