Meat Loaf Settles Lawsuit Over ‘I’d Do Anything For Love’
Meat Loaf has ended a two-year legal battle over ownership of 1993's “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” in a deal that saw the suit dismissed with prejudice.
That means that neither Meat Loaf and songwriting colleague Jim Steinman, or the other party in Enclosed Music LLC, can reopen the case under any circumstances. The dismissal followed an agreement made in February that the parties should find a settlement but could reopen proceedings if the attempt failed, Law360.com reported. Settlement details were not disclosed.
“I’d Do Anything For Love” played a major part in returning Meat Loaf to the big time, after he spent several years adrift. The No. 1 hit appeared on Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, a reunion album with Steinman that went on to sell more than 14 million copies worldwide.
Enclosed Music sued in 2017, alleging that Steinman had access to material written by Jon Dunmore Sinclair since the pair were both represented by lawyer Howard Siegel in the ‘90s. As a result, they said Steinman had access to Sinclair’s 1989 song “(I’d Do) Anything For You.” Enclosed, acting as owners of Sinclair’s catalog, contended that “the concurrent representation of two songwriter clients lends an inference that, during a visit with Mr. Siegel, Mr. Steinman would have had a reasonable opportunity to view, hear, and/or copy the original song before composing the infringing song.”
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Arguing that both songs shared a musical “soul,” one of Enclosed's lawyer later explained: “Mr. Siegel promised to ‘shop’ Mr. Dunmore’s music back in the early '90s, and also told Mr. Dunmore that Meat Loaf was looking for songs.”
In his counter-argument, Meat Loaf said that the songs bore no resemblance to each other except for the lyrical phrase “I would do anything for,” which was too vague to be regarded as protectable under copyright law. He also claimed that Enclosed had not proved they owned Sinclair’s catalog in any case.
As for what the song character in fact wouldn't do for love, Meat Loaf claims there's no big mystery. “The problem lies because Jimmy [Steinman] likes to write, so you forget what the line was before you get to 'I won't do that,’” Meat Loaf said in 2014. He pointed out that the line always followed an action – examples being “forget the way you feel right now” and “do it better than I do it with you.”
Later, Meat Loaf added several things that he personally wouldn't do for love either – including going vegan, recording a song with Justin Bieber and taking a bullet.
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