Why, Diddy? Why?
By Anthony Falzone on October 18, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Music sampling has suffered a strange fate at the hands of copyright law. It should fare well under the fair use doctrine. In general, it's very transformative, uses small amounts of the copyrighted work, and there exists little possibility that the new work would serve as any plausible substitute for the old. Yet there are precious few cases that even address the application of fair use to music sampling.
I'm afraid much of this is due to the refusal of music publishers, record labels -- and even artists -- to raise the defense in the first place. A case in point: The Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Bridgeport Music v. Justin Combs Publishing, which affirmed copyright infringement liability against the defendants, including Bad Boy Records, the label founded and still headed by CEO Sean "Diddy" Combs. (The opinion also reversed an absurd punitive damage award. Read a full copy of the decision here.) Read more about Why, Diddy? Why?