Property Rights: Best Things In Life Are Free

Was Irving Berlin mad when he saw the issue of Mad magazine billed as The Fourth Annual Edition of More Trash from Mad? Mad or not, he sued. In a section headed "Sing Along with Mad" appeared parodies of numerous popular songs, including some of Berlin's best-known hits. A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody had been transmogrified into Louella Schwartz Describes Her Malady, and The Girl That I Marry into: The horse that I'm betting will have to be A sprinter that wins with consistency!

Berlin, along with a swarm of song publishers, claimed infringement of their copyrights. Last...

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