Judith Finell

Judith Finell is a musicologist and the president of Judith Finell MusicServices Inc., a music consulting firm in New York founded in 1985. She has testified as an expert witness and consulted in various litigations involving copyright infringement over the past 20 years, including most recently as the lead musicologist for the Marvin Gaye family in their dispute over the song “Blurred Lines” with Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke. She has also testified in disputes for Michael Jackson, Sony/CBS, Warner-Chappell, the estates of Igor Stravinsky and Bob Marley and before the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington on behalf of the National Music Publishers Assn. in a dispute with the RIAA.

Ms. Finell’s firm regularly advises entertainment company clients on licensing and risk avoidance in copyright matters, including HBO, Sony Pictures, Disney, Grey Advertising, Lionsgate, LucasFilms, CBS, and others.

Ms. Finell holds an M.A. degree in musicology from the University of California at Berkeley and a B.A. from UCLA in piano performance. She has written numerous articles and a book in the area of contemporary music and copyright infringement and has appeared in trials on Court TV and before the American Intellectual Property Law Association. She is on the board of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A., and has appeared as a guest lecturer at the law schools of UCLA, Columbia, Vanderbilt, George Washington, NYU, and Fordham as well as the Beverly Hills Bar Assn., LA Copyright Society, and the American Independent Music Publishers.