Wednesday afternoon, Judge Amanda Khrushchev of the 14th Circuit Court of appeals ruled in favor of plaintiff Tony Patterson in the case, Patterson v. Trailerz Music Group. I know we don’t normally bore you with court cases here on the entertainment pages of the paper, but this ruling, if it stands, could usher in a seismic shakeup in the whole music industry. Here’s why.

Tony Patterson, one of the pioneers of the dominant style of pop music in the last decade or so, sued TMG for on the grounds of copyright infringement, claiming that the work their artists produced was so substantially similar to Pattersdon’s own work that it should in law be classified as derivative works which would make Patterson entitled to compensation from the sales of TMG’s songs.

Ultimately Judge Khrushchev sided with the plaintiff almost in full, writing in her decision, “Music is a particularly tough case as the elements which define a musical work are much less distinct than in other mediums. Suppose you wrote a book starring the cast of characters from another author’s work, that would without a doubt be a derivative work. But would it not also be a derivative work if you had a cast of original characters reenact the plot of another work almost in full?… It is the opinion of the court, after careful consideration and intent listening to the music presented, that the defendant’s music, due to its copious reuse of melodies and general structure found in the plaintiff’s work, are legally indistinguishable from what a reasonable person would expect from a derivative work based on the plaintiff’s songs.” TMG has appealed the decision.