Jury dismisses copyright claim brought by Catholic composer over 1980 hymn
A Catholic composer has lost his copyright infringement lawsuit against a fellow songwriter and a publishing company after a jury found that he did not prove that his work had been unlawfully copied by either defendant.
Jury documents obtained by EWTN News show that a jury found Vincent Ambrosetti did not “prove by a preponderance of the evidence” that Bernadette Farrell and Oregon Catholic Press had copied his 1980 song “Emmanuel” with the 1993 hymn “Christ Be Our Light.”
The suit was originally filed in 2020 but dismissed in March 2024, with U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut arguing that Ambrosetti had not shown that the defendants had had “access” to his song prior to writing their own song or that there was a “striking similarity” between the two works.
An appeals court, however, revived the suit in August 2025. The appeals court noted that in 1985, Oregon Catholic Press then-publisher Owen Alstott allegedly met Ambrosetti at a convention, where Ambrosetti gave Alstott a copy of “Emmanuel.” Alstott would go on to meet and eventually marry Farrell.
In March, a jury was played selections of both songs, while New York University music professor Lawrence Ferrara said in a court filing that there was “strong objective musicological evidence of copying” between the two songs.
Yet the jury found otherwise, ruling in favor of both Farrell and of Oregon Catholic Press and against Ambrosettiʼs claim of infringement.
In a status report filed after the juryʼs verdict, Ambrosetti urged the court to “enter a judgment based on the verdict returned by the jury,” after which he said he would “proceed from there,” suggesting he may intend to appeal the case.
The jury debated for less than a day before returning its verdict against Ambrosettiʼs claims.
Source: https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/us/jury-dismisses-copyright-claim-brought-by-catholic-composer-over-1980-hymn
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