Jury Sides With Sample Troll Who Probably Doesn't Even Own Rights To Song In Question
from the lovely dept
Late last year, we wrote up a story about Bridgeport Music, a company
described as a sample troll. The company (or, really, the guy behind the company) has been "acquiring" the rights to various songs -- and then suing anyone who dares to sample the song, no matter how minor the sample. It would seem that fair use rules should allow basic sampling without a problem -- but unfortunately courts haven't always agreed. The latest was pointed out to us by
Avatar28, and involves Bridgeport Music's latest case, where a jury has sided with Bridgeport, claiming that a song by the group Public Announcement that uses a 5 second sample of an old George Clinton song with the word "dog" used near "yippee yay, yippee yo"
is copyright infringement. Universal Music published the newer song and is now on the hook for $111,000 -- and could face a ban on the sale of Public Announcement's album. While there's some irony in seeing Universal Music Group (which has been perhaps
the worst of the big record labels in abusing copyright laws to squeeze money out of everyone), this is one case they deserved to win -- for a variety of reasons. First off, using just a quick sample should be fair use. There's simply no reason that it's not. Second, as we noted the last time we wrote about Bridgeport Music, George Clinton insists that Bridgeport has no right to his music, and says that the guy who runs the company forged documents to claim control over his music. Clinton is actually a big fan of bands (especially up and coming bands) sampling his content. You can see a fascinating
video interview of Clinton explaining all this (video link) including how Bridgeport has no real right to his music, but also how sampling is wonderful for musicians -- and how happy he is to hear others sample his songs.
Techdirt is off for the long weekend! We'll be back with our regular posts tomorrow.
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if it wasn't for george clinton
it makes sense that clinton is huge into people sampling his music...pretty much all west coast style "gangsta rap" is based on old parlament/funkadelic samples.
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This is completely Bizzare!
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Thankyou for the muses
The discussion is really interesting when George and Hank Shockley from Public Enemy start discussing the relative worth of each second of sampling "is this sound more expensive than this sound" - you start to get some idea how messed up music is getting
Theres some extremely dangerous precedents coming out of the courts recently re sampling by the sounds of it (I hadn't heard the half of this) and it bears watching even closer in future
Thanks either way for the perfect 40min end to the week ;0)
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I am sort of torn
Maybe this case is like the Oscars? Its not the best performance of the year but we've been snubbing you in the past and you deserve recognition so we give you the award?
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Sinners
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I'm pretty sure it was yippee yo, yippee ya.
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Drip, drip, drip.
#6 is what happens when someone doesn't pay attention to their child-- that child grows up (if you can call it that) and begs for attention as a forum troll. It's a sad tale, but a very common one.
The best way to make them go away is to ignore them, as they are only seeking attention, they'll wander away if not given any.
"Hug a child, kill a troll."
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check your facts, please.
Bridgeport music is a) legit, b) has a rightful claim to the materials in question, and c) you slandered them last year by claiming they forged George Clinton's name.
Seriously. Not only did I know George Clinton and the founder of BP, I am very familiar with the relevant history, and you got this one DEAD WRONG.
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Re: check your facts, please.
Its not slander if you report what a nother person says
Maybe George is lying but for some crazy reason I would trust him more than any company
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fucked up
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Bridgeport Music
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Boladian is a fraud
Actually, in 2005 Clinton won control of his music back, and it was proven that Boladian, aka Bridgeport, HAD forged Clinton's signature. It's a sham of a corporation, at it's very best. So Bridgeport is 1) not legit, 2) has no legal claim to Clinton's (and most others') music whatsoever, and 3) I guess the appellate court "slandered" their name when they found in favor of Clinton and against Bridgeport.
The company's a sham. How it's still in business is beyond me. They're like the Jack Thompson of the music world, only marginally successful. Like a zit on top of a hemorrhoid.
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