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

"minor, unrecognisable snippets of music" banned?

[iainl]

Maybe I've missed something obvious here. If its minor and unrecognisable, how will the copyright owner know its happened?

Personally, I'm entirely behind the idea that if your sample is recognisable as someone else's song, then you've got to license it. If you can't tell, then you've obviously done something new with the sound and its fair game.