copyright ZZ Top and John Lee Hooker

A copyright case between John Lee Hooker and ZZ Top was started in 1991 when the copyright owner of Hookers song "Boogie Chillen" heard ZZ Top's song "LA Grange." Imediatly they had a feeling that there song was reused. John wrote three different versions of the song first in 1948 then again in 1950 and later in the 70's. In 1973, ZZ Top released there hit "La Grange."
La Cienage's (Johns record label) action was bored by a statue of limitations. This was thought to be expired. "Under the copyright act of 1909, properly recorded artists work receives copyright protection for twentyeight years from the date of first publication.The author may renew these right for an aditional twentyeight years." In 1996, the judge stated that the 1948 version and the 1950 version were both in the public domain. Hooker assigned his rights to his record label. "Boogie Chillen" was sold to the public domain. they registard the third version in 1992. ZZ Top was found not guilty.
Both the songs are very similar. The tempo is almost exact and the cordal structure is the same. The lyrics are not similar at all, "La Grange" is about a prostitution house outside of the Texas town and "Boogie Chillen" is about feeling the music take over your mind. ZZ Top's style is blues and one of there biggest inpirations is John Lee Hooker so it is quite possible to have similar sounds.

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