IP Lawyers please stand up

aka

Any American/Euro IP lawyers in here? b,121b,121I have this pesky paper requirement for law school in Canada. I asked my IP prof if he thought 'copyright issues in sampling' had enough meat for a paper, he said yes IF it was comparative. I'm good on Canadian law, but am a little shaky outside of that (we barely touched Euro/US stuff in class).b,121b,121I've got time to get this done but if anyone can point me in the right direction it would be most appreciated (I just need somewhere to start).b,121b,121You can hit me on the PMs or at dlcayley(at)uvic(dot)ca.b,121b,121Thanks in advance!b,121b,121D

fishmongerfunk

it sounds a bit thin but i guess it all depends on how long the paper is expected to be. did some euro competition law this year and there is alot going on there but we didn't cover one case that dealt with sampling per se.b,121b,121EU law is an entity unto itself obviously and it has its own unique aims but there is alot of fodder for a comparative approach. you may want to consider broadening your topic slightly, for example: "comparative approaches to the issue of music piracy" might be a safer bet. alternatively, you could take a really specific approach such as "a comparative approach to remedies for breach of copyright in musical works". just some ideas i am throwing out there...b,121b,121did a quick search and these uk cases/legislation might be a good place to start:b,121b,121Phonographic Performance Ltd v Maitrab,121Ludlow Music Inc v Williams (No.2)b,121Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988b,121b,121b,121and this article:b,121b,121Robinson, Anthony. "Copyright - lyrics - remedies". Entertainment Law Review (2003)b,121b,121in terms of us law, i know very little but there is a documentary that came out recently that talks about the first sampling cases and the "de minimus" rule but i forget the name. it has a really unfortunate segment with some goof named girl talk who produces music entirely of scraps of recent top 40 songs...best of luck

hemol

At first I thought Ako was going to law school in Canada, then I read more closely.

aka

Many thanks for the response fish. I tracked down those two cases and will give a read. Have to go to the library for that article. Gonna look for the Coles notes on that legislation though img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" 21b,121b,121I have no idea if my idea is broad enough -- I'm still in the preliminary stages of research (it is barely September after all). I read an article a while ago on the implications of MIDI sampling, and another one on sampling vs. protection of sound recordings (i.e. leaving out author's economic & moral rights as well as performance rights). I'd be expanding on the scope of the latter, and comparing EU & US approaches. We'll see where I'm at in another month. The paper's only supposed to be 35-40 pages.b,121b,121Found the documentary too -- Good Copy, Bad Copy. Funnily enough I'd seen it before but it didn't come to mind. Thanks for the reminder.b,121b,121I take it you're at law school in the US?b,121b,121Anyone else got anything to add?

yuichi

TAKE THAT SHIT TO WAXINGDEEP.COM!

Flomotion

Funny UK case a couple of years ago where a musician was successfully (?) sued by the estate of John Cage because a silent but titled track he'd put on his commercially released CD bore too striking a resemblance to 4'33". I seem to remember his defence referenced legislation covering sampling.

FYBS

^^^ I believe part of that case was actually because in an interview they were asked what made them make a song containing silence. They said they just sampled the John Cage track and sped it up. As a joke. That interview was used as part of the reasoning for the suit in the first place. Might be wrong though, just what I remember.

aka

Is that a real case? Only info I could find is on Uncyclopedia. I've always thought that song was ripe for a remix though.