12 Years a Slave soundtrack in copyright spat

A composer has sued film studio Twentieth Century Fox, record company Sony Music and music producer Hans Zimmer, alleging that parts of the soundtrack to the hit film 12 Years a Slave infringes his copyright.

Richard Friedman has claimed that the ‘Solomon Northup’ theme and other musical elements in the 2013 film can be traced to his 11-year-old composition called To Our Fallen.

According to the complaint, filed at the US District Court for the Central District of California, Friedman’s composition was also used in an episode of US TV series Desperate Housewives in 2008, but with his permission.

Friedman claimed his work was partially produced in the same California recording studio that Zimmer uses and that, due to the similarity between the two works, the film composer must have had access to it.

He is seeking a judgment that confirms infringement and sets damages, and that says all portions of the film featuring the allegedly infringing work are destroyed.

Plan B, the production company belonging to actor Brad Pitt, who starred in the film, has also been targeted.

The complaint, filed on Thursday (January 22), claimed that the main theme, the music for the closing credits, and “eleven of the other musical cues embodied in the film” infringe Friedman’s copyright.

“[The musical scores] are based upon, and substantially similar to, the composition and the sound recording, and infringe plaintiff’s rights in and to the composition and the sound recording, but neither plaintiff, nor any other person or entity in privity with plaintiff, has been asked by defendants, at any time, for permission to use or license copyrighted works in 12YAS [12 Years a Slave],” the complaint said.

Zimmer has previously composed scores for other films including Inception, The Da Vinci Code, The Dark Knight and The Lion King.

The complaint, which requests a trial by jury, has also asked that German and French copyright laws are taken into account due to the film’s international distribution.

A spokesman for Zimmer did not respond to a request for comment. Sony Music and Twentieth Century Fox did not respond to a request for comment.