09/04/2025
29 August 2025—For immediate release
Ninth Circuit Finds Substantial Evidence That Ambrosetti’s “Emmanuel” Was Copied
On August 27, 2025, in a published opinion, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals re-instated Vincent Ambrosetti’s federal copyright infringement lawsuit, which alleged that Mr. Ambrosetti’s original sacred music work “Emmanuel” was unlawfully copied when Bernadette Farrell composed and Oregon Catholic Press (OCP) published the later work entitled “Christ Be Our Light” (CBOL). The Court of Appeals held that the district court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of the defendants, because in fact Mr. Ambrosetti had presented substantial evidence that Farrell and OCP had access to “Emmanuel” before “CBOL” was composed in 1993 and because there was substantial evidence, including compelling expert testimony, that the two works were “strikingly similar.” The striking similarities of the two works constituted substantial evidence that Mr. Ambrosetti’s original work had been unlawfully copied by Farrell. . . .
Read the full text at www.ilpmusic.org/pressrele.html
