Madrid (EFE) and those of the producer José Torregrosa, who appeared as a co-author.
Torregrosa took advantage of the guitarist’s inability to write scores, according to the ruling by magistrate Jorge Montull Urquijo, head of Madrid’s Commercial Court 3, which has been described as “impeccable” in statements to EFE by Lucía Sánchez Varela, daughter of Paco de Lucía and lawyer for the family in this case.
“It is an impeccable sentence. I, as an Intellectual Property lawyer, believe that it is a highly valued sentence and there is little to appeal”, Sánchez Varela stated, who nevertheless has recognized that the heirs of Torregrosa -who died in 2005- will surely appeal.
The sentence sentences the widow and the two daughters of Torregrosa to return the amounts improperly received from the widow and the five children of Paco de Lucía (1947-2014) since the songs were registered, with the corresponding legal interest.
According to the judicial decision, they will also have to compensate them with 10,000 euros for non-material damage.
The judgment can be appealed
But now this judicial ruling can be appealed, both before the Mercantile Court and, later, before the Provincial Court of Madrid and the Supreme Court, so there is still time ahead to close this case, explained Sánchez Varela.
And more taking into account that this sentence comes after 14 years since Paco de Lucía decided to claim the authorship of these songs, not with the aim of recovering the money generated by copyright, but to establish who the true author was, because he had not been aware that the topics were registered with shared authority.
“He was very clear that his objective was the recognition of authorship, what he would have generated financially was residual”, highlighted the lawyer, who recalled that for his father the essential thing was “that when his grandchildren opened the Internet they would see that they were songs from his grandfather.”
Other songs recognized by Paco de Lucía
In addition to the popular “Entre dos aguas”, one hundred percent of the authorship of “Gitanos Trianeros”, “El Tajo”, “Jerezana”, “Llanto A Cádiz”, “Punta Umbría”, “Recuerdo to Patiño”, “Viva la Unión”, “En la Caleta”, “Llora la Seguiriya”, “Abril en Sevilla”, “Al Conquero”, “Que viene el coco”, “El Vito”, “Fuente Nueva”, “Plazuela”, “Improvised Rumba”, “Serranía de Málaga’, “Temas del Pueblo”, “Barrio de la Viña”.
Also from “Canastera”, “When the rooster sings”, “De madrugá”, “Bell tolls”, “Punta del Faro”, “Farolillo de Feria”, “Farruca de Lucía”, “Tientos del Mentidero”, “Flamenco percussion ”, “The Flamenco Guitar and Orchestra of Paco de Lucía”, “Fuente y caudal”, “Los pinares”, “Plaza de San Juan”, “Reflejo de Luna”, “Solera”, “Aires choqueros” and “Cepa andaluza ”.
Until now, the composer and arranger José Torregrosa, who in the 1960s and 1970s was a music producer for the Philips record company, with whom Paco de Lucía worked on his first albums, and who transcribed his songs, appeared as co-author in all of them. By the way, Torregrosa was improperly included as the author of the same, according to the sentence.
The text of the sentence affirms that “it has not been proven nor are there any indications, beyond the records in the SGAE repertoire, that Mr. Torregrosa participated in the creative process of the works that are the subject of the claim, at least as co-author , that is, having the condition referred to in article 5 of the Reformed Text of the Intellectual Property Law (TRLPI), even jointly with Paco de Lucía”.