09 Sep 2004
Facing the Copyright Rap

OK, ready: "Bite my ass!".

Since three notes sampled from a recording now constitutes copyright violation, I will be on the lookout for any work that uses those three words above, planning to collect my "license" fee for their reuse. And don't try modifying it: since the court ruled that lowering the pitch of the notes and extending them was also infringement, I figure that "Bite my buttocks!" or "Masiticate my hindquarters!" should also qualify me for a license fee.

The only problem is, what if I'm violating somebody else's copyright by putting those three words together? Hmmmm, could be a real problem here ...

I wonder what these judges were smoking?

Including snippets of another artist's song in your work -- a popular rapper technique known as 'sampling' -- may violate copyright law, an appeals court rules.

(link) [Wired News]

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