SlashNOT

Matthew writes: CNN reports that a copyright on silence has been successful. In 1952, American composer John Cage included a track called 4′33″ on an album he released, which consisted of that length of silence.

The John Cage trust sued Mike Batt for his composition, “One minute of Silence”, claiming that he had plagiarized the earlier work. Mr. Batt settled out of court for hundreds of thousands of dollars, claiming that while the case had little merit, he deeply respected Mr. Cage’s work (and apparently, six figures is chump change for him).

[Note: Stories in the True Stories section are true and highlight current news items that are just too silly to satirize.]