Court Rules Against Unlicensed Sampling

An anonymous reader writes "Looks like there is no room at all for *any* sampling of "commercially protected" music. According to the open and future-looking judges, 'Get a license or do not sample. We do not see this as stifling creativity in any significant way.'" As the article puts it, this includes "minor, unrecognisable snippets of music." The decision was in the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Comments

Re:15 year old song?!?!?

[Eneff]

In defense of George Clinton, he lost a pile of money on people sampling his stuff in early rap. This was a time when he was barely making it week to week because he had someone else stealing his royalties.

and no, fair use doesn't apply to sampling. That's what they're saying. And frankly, if you look at what fair use is, it shouldn't.

Now I like The Grey Album and the Avalanches and much of the meta-art genre, but under current laws this is the correct implementation.

This is a legislative problem and only solved with a ballot or a gun.