Public Access Media interviews Girl Talk (Greg Gillis) prior to his performance at the Capitol Hill Block Pary in Seattle, WA (2008). “With my work,” Gillis says, “there’s a thing called fair use in United States copyright law that allows you to sample without asking for permision if it falls under certain criteria — if [...]

In 1991, Negativland released U2. The EP mashed a rant by American Top 40 host Casey Kasem with samples of U2′s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For and an accompanying kazoo. U2′s label Island Records sued Negativland alleging both copyright (unauthorized sampling) and trademark infringement (misleading cover artwork) — according to the band, [...]

In 2007, Viacom filed a $1 billion lawsuit alleging Google is liable for the intentional infringement of thousands of copyrighted works on YouTube. On Wednesday, U.S. District Court (SDNY) Judge Louis Stanton granted summary judgment in favor of Google. Viacom argued the search company had actual knowledge of infringing activity on YouTube or was generally [...]

Audio from Nate Harrison’s Can I Get An Amen? (2004), an installation that “unfolds a critical perspective of perhaps the most sampled drum beat in the history of recorded music,” the Amen Break. Harrison explains the evolution of the world’s most recognizable beat break — from b-side drum solo to raw material used in decades [...]

Plunderphonics is a term coined by composer John Oswald in his 1985 essay Plunderphonics, or Audio Piracy as a Compositional Prerogative. Oswald describes the practice of making music from previously recorded material. His method was the audio equivalent of William S. Burroughs’ literary cut-ups. Oswald’s polemics about the future of “new-fangled, much-talked-about digital sound sampling [...]

On Tuesday, U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, Victoria Espinel, released the Joint Strategic Plan to Combat Intellectual Property Theft. In a blog post, Espinel notes the importance of balancing enforcement and creativity via fair use, “The Obama Administration has always embraced the free flow of information, online collaboration, and fair use by average citizens, which [...]

Walking On Eggshells is a project by Jacob Albert, Ryan Beauchamp and Brendan Schlagel for the seminar Intellectual Property in the Digital Age at Yale University. From the filmmakers: Walking on Eggshells is a 24-minute documentary about appropriation, creative influence, re-use and intellectual property in the remix age. It is a conversation among various musicians, [...]

Michael Jackson musical blocked by estate Broadway producer Nederlander filed a suit against the estate of Michael Jackson claiming the estate won’t clear the right to use songs, including Beat It, Billie Jean, and Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin. From TMZ. ASCAP files 21 scattershot copyright lawsuits The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) [...]