Can a song containing the words "ooh" and "free your body" be copyrighted?

Turning to the American law on this point, s. 102 of the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 provides that works of authorship include "musical works, including any accompanying words." In Jarvis v. A & M Records, 827 F.Supp. 282 (D.N.J. 1993), the defendants copied two parts of the plaintiff's song: "[t]he bridge section, which contains the words "ooh ... move ... free your body"; and "a distinctive keyboard riff, which functions as both a rhythm and melody." On the defendants' motion for summary dismissal, the court denied summary judgment because a genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether these parts were significant to the song. The defendants had argued that the copied portions were non-copyrightable. At p. 292, the court responded, as follows: It is unfair to characterize the "oohs", "moves" and "free your body" as cliched phrases typical in the field. To the contrary, they are used together in a particular arrangement and in the context of a particular melody. And the precise relationship of the phrases vis a vis each other was copied. There is no question that the combined phrase "ooh ooh ooh ooh ... move ... free your body" is an expression of an idea that was copyrightable. Moreover, the keyboard line that was copied represents a distinctive melody/rhythm that sets it far apart from the ordinary cliched phrases held not copyrightable. It, too, is an expression of an idea, and is capable of being infringed.

In Santrayll v. Burrell, 39 U.S.P.Q.2d 1052 (S.D.N.Y. 1996), the court, at p. 1054, held that a one-measure hook, consisting of the word "uh-oh" repeated four times to a particular rhythm, was a "sufficiently original composition to render it protectible by the copyright laws," notwithstanding that the word "uh-oh" was itself not protectible.