Obscure Japanese Author Flattered That Dylan Used His Words

Say That Again

from the building-on-others-works dept

A fascinating story about an obscure Japanese author who apparently was the inspiration for a recent Bob Dylan song – though, he isn’t credited. The fascinating part is the writer’s reaction. Instead of planning legal action, he is flattered that someone like Dylan (who he admits he knew little about until recently) would use his words. “Why would I sue? To take something that made people around the world happy and try to exploit it for money — that’s poverty.” He also points out that he’s, “just happy someone read my book and liked it.” Meanwhile, of course, the song is on a Dylan album put out by Sony Music – a member of the RIAA – that doesn’t look kindly on the idea of “building” on someone else’s creative works and has fought to make copyright perpetual. If things had gone the other way, how quickly would Sony have filed a lawsuit against the Japanese author? Here’s another version of the story that has more details on how an astute Dylan fan discovered the similarities.