Complex copyright law is becoming de riguer for those interested in the music biz. This ruling is great for samplers, less so for composers:

[James] Newton, a professor at California State University, Los Angeles, says that if he'd been asked, he never would have granted his permission. So in 2000 he sued the Beastie Boys, charging the group with copyright infringement. And, to his surprise and rage in June, he learned he'd lost the case.

In her ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Nora M. Manella said that Newton's sequence was basically a "recording," for which Newton and his publisher had already been compensated, as opposed to a "composition," and that it was "unoriginal as a matter of law." (She also denied a motion filed by the Beastie Boys seeking reimbursement from Newton for almost $500,000 in legal fees.) Newton is appealing the decision, and has taken to the Internet in search of support.

The case in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California pits Newton, a critically acclaimed avant-garde jazz flutist and former Guggenheim fellow, against the Beastie Boys, a rap group known for both its innovation in sampling (the use of snippets of other artists' recordings) and for its progressive politics.

Composers are nervously keeping an eye on the case, wondering what kind of precedent it will set if Manella's ruling is upheld.

UPDATE

The following thoughts on the case are from a professional in the plagiarism/copyright review field:

Well, I don't have the facts, so I can't be sure. But I do have a couple of thoughts:

First, even if the work was in the Public Domain, Newton would have a right in copyright for his arrangement of the Public Domain work.

Second, the combined sound of the finished recording would identify with Newton, so he might have a claim under the doctrine of unfair competition.

Third, if the track was actually sampled and the record company contacted, in my opinion, that would provide irrefutable evidence of access. The fitting of the graphs of the waveforms one over the other in Pro Tools should establish the substantial similarity as required under the law.

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