Brit Mike Batt has settled a UK copyright suit against him for an undisclosed six-figure amount for "copying" John Cage's silent 4'33" in his own silent A One Minute Silence.

That's right. Infringement of silence. Utterly absurd. Admittedly, Batt credited Cage for co-authorship of the song. But you just can't get around the fact that there is no other way to express the concept of silence except, well, by silence.*

For non-legal types: this is an example of the merger doctrine, which protects ideas that can only be expressed in only one or a few ways from becoming monopolized by a grant of copyright.

* Of course you can describe the silence, or say it was deafening, or paint blue and expect someone to think, "ooh, silence!" but essentially there is only one way to be silent.