Rap Lyric Leads To Conviction/Prison

Georgia rapper Rico Todriquez Wright, age 25, was sentenced earlier this week to 20 years behind bars for aggravated assault after indirectly confessing to a 2006 shooting via a rap song.

The victim of a shooting two years ago, Chad Blue, informed authorities of a distant friendship with the rapper that resulted in a gunshot after Wright chased him and let off multiple bullets to his thigh and groin while an entourage surrounded the scene.

"I heard one of the men tell Rico, 'Go ahead and shoot him,'" Blue previsouly told jurors. "When he raised his gun, I knew I had to run. But I knew if I ran a straight line, I was dead. So I started weaving, running between houses, trying to avoid the bullets."

Despite Blue's testimony, it was the lyric "Chad Blue knows how I shoot," which secured a prison term for the rapper.

[Article with comments.]

Sampling in Germany

Germany's highest civil court today held that sampling music does not in principle violate copyright.

The decision overturned a lower court ruling that reusing even the shortest bit of a song infringed on copyright.

Today's order means that sampling of a song melody is prohibited, but a sample that is part of a completely new musical work bearing no resemblance to the original is not infringement.

[Kraftwerk case]

[Rolling Stone Article.]

Fair Use & Political Speech

Browne v. McCain, No. 08-05334 (C.D.Cal. Nov. 2008)

Main issues:
-Copyright Fair use
-Lanham Act's application to political speech

see docs. 20 & 24

Fair Use and DMCA Take-Downs

Lenz v. Universal Music Publishing, Inc., No. 07-CV-03783, 2008 BL 247967 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 28, 2008), denying defendants Universal Music Publishing, Inc. and Universal Music Publishing Group’s (collectively, “Universal”) request for certification for interlocutory appeal in a case involving an allegedly infringing YouTube video.

Although Universal sought certification of a controlling question of first impression on the issue of fair use and a copyright owner’s obligations with regard to the Digital Millennium Copyright
Act (DMCA) takedown notice procedures, the court found the question did not provide substantial grounds for difference of opinion, nor that a resolution of the question would materially advance the litigation at this stage.

[More from Bloomberg.]

The court, in an earlier decision held that the DMCA requires consideration of fair use prior to sending a takedown notice. Universal then filed the instant motion, seeking certification for
interlocutory appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) of the issue of “whether 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3)(v) requires a copyright owner to consider the fair use doctrine in formulating a good
faith belief that ‘use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law.’” The court denied Universal’s motion for interlocutory appeal.

Paul Simon Settles Clock Suit

The New York Post reported that Paul Simon has settled his copyright infringement suit against defendants' unauthorized use of plaintiff's composition, "Bridge Over Troubled Water", in connection with defendants' sale of clocks throughout the United States.

Prior post.