Author: Joseph P. Morganella

Court swats away suit over Warm Kitty, as sung on Big Bang Theory Actor Jim Parsons has turned the misanthropic, mischievous, and often malevolent character of Sheldon Cooper, uber nerd and brilliant physicist, into not just an Emmy winner but also a million-dollar-an-episode recurring star part in a prime time network smash. Fans obsess about the adventure of Sheldon and his pointy-headed pals. But, hello, kitty, a federal judge in Manhattan has told Big Bang Theory aficionados they can rest easy about one of Sheldon’s signature musical quirks. U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald has dismissed a cat-and-mouse game of copyright infringement against the show. It had been hit with a suit by the holders of the rights to the lyrics of Warm Kitty. That’s a tune the two sister-plaintiff’s asserted their nursery school teacher-mom wrote decades ago, then protected in 1937. Eccentric Sheldon, whose idiosyncratic behavior often alienates him from friends and foes alike on the TV show, often sings a version of Kitty to himself to self-soothe. His lyrics aren’t a carbon copy of the plaintiff’s song. But the sisters argued that the show failed to secure their permission to use the song and the lyrics were substantially similar enough to sue. What gave the judge paws about this cat scratch legal tiff? A teacher’s work gets into a compendium Ellen Newlin Chase and Margaret Chase Perry claimed in their suit that their mother, Edith Newlin,...