More pop legalities, and Germany's highest civil court has made an interesting ruling on sampling - ruling that sampling musical notes does not, in principle, violate copyright.
This is of interest to Kraftwerk, who had previously won a lawsuit in the Hamburg court against German rap producer Moses Pelham who used an uncleared two-second sample from their 1977 track 'Metal On Metal' in the rhythm sequence of the 1997 Sabrina Setlur song 'Nur Mir'.
The key to the German higher court ruling is that sampling a melody does constitute infringement, but a couple of notes taken from a previous recording used in such a way as the original melody is not identifiable - which was arguably the case in 'Nur Mir' - does not. The higher court decision means the Hamburg court will now have to reconsider the Kraftwerk case anew.
The ruling is good news for French electro duo Justice, one half of which, Xavier De Rosnay, recently admitted there were a number of uncleared but unrecognisable samples of their debut album, including notes from Slipknot, Queen and 50 Cent tracks. If ever Roadrunner, Parlophone or Interscope tried to sue, De Rosnay should try and fight the lawsuit in the German courts.