Jurors given piano performance, crash course in music as part of copyright suit over Catholic hymns

A years-old copyright lawsuit over Catholic hymns saw jurors in Oregon this week receive a crash course in music reading along with a livestreamed performance of the songs at the center of the dispute.

The suit, originally filed by American Catholic composer Vincent Ambrosetti in May 2020, accuses songwriter Bernadette Farrell and Oregon Catholic Press of copyright infringement against Ambrosetti’s 1980 hymn “Emmanuel.”

The suit alleges that Farrell’s 1993 hymn “Christ Be Our Light” illegally copied elements of “Emmanuel,” with Ambrosetti arguing for a “striking similarity” between the two songs.

Part of Farrell’s work contains “the same notes, the same key, and the same time signature,” the suit alleges.

The suit was 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.

But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit reversed that decision in August 2025, reviving the lawsuit and arguing that there were “genuine issues of material fact” regarding the similarity of the songs.

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. 

The trial began anew on March 16. The Oregonian reported that the panel of eight jurors were instructed on several basic principles of musical comprehension, including how to read music, “how to distinguish between a quarter note and a half note,” and “how many beats each measure holds.”

Lawrence Ferrara, a professor of music at New York University, also performed several musical samples of the disputed works via video during the trial.

Ferrara has participated in court proceedings and copyright disputes for decades, including analysis and professional opinion. In a February preliminary report filed to the court he pointed to similarities in the two songs that he said provide “strong objective musicological evidence of copying.”

Ambrosetti in his 2020 lawsuit said he had sent an infringement notice to the plaintiffs alleging the copyright violation but that they continued to use their song, leading to his filing the suit. The trial is expected to continue through the week.