We half expected that Robin Gibb would deliver his speech Wednesday to the World Copyright Summit in a high falsetto.
But the Bee Gee instead stammered his way through it, looking nervous as he read his remarks on the importance of copyright off of a wrinkled sheet of paper.
“To every cow its calf, so to every book his copy,” Gibb said, quoting a sixth-century Irish high king in what is the first copyright case ever reported.
Despite his concern with royalties and copyright, Gibb seemed to use other authors’ words quite often, later quoting a song by Tom Lehrer. Gibb recited a good portion of the song, yelling, “So don’t shade your eyes, But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize …”
He closed out the short speech by cheering, “We will win,” and rushed out as soon as his standing ovation concluded.
-Kristen Henry reporting
