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Old 05-08-2012, 06:02 PM
MarcusCarab MarcusCarab is offline
aka Leigh Beadon
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Posts: 2
Default Re: Beastie Boys sued over ‘Licensed to Ill’ and ‘Paul’s Boutique’ samples

Yeah, fair enough - but I think the fact that part of the problem is companies avoiding risk is still an important point. Copyright law being as fluid and as confusing as it is, very little of it is set in stone - but a lot of it is threatening enough that it creates far-spread chilling effects on culture and business. It's good that fair use has weight in the law, but in practice at the moment it seems to carry very little weight and have very little influence on the industry - apart, as you say, making labels nervous about suing over samples sometimes. But that's a mixed blessing since it means we don't get the ruling that would make it a /firm/ rule, and instead are stuck with it as a weak deterrent.

But that's where Tuf America may have stepped in it here. It might finally be time for a sampling defence that asserts fair use... I hope so.
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