The case relates to the manipulation of a three-note riff from the 1975 Funkadelic song Get Off Your Ass and Jam. This, reports the Associated Press, was used by gangsta rap group NWA in their 1990 hit song 100 Miles and Runnin, which itself was featured in the film "I Got the Hook Up" produced by No Limit Films.
Bridgeport Music and Westbound Records, the copyright holders of the Funkadelic song, sued No Limit Films, claiming copyright infringement. They lost the case before the district court in 2002 on the grounds that the riff was not identifiable.
A Cincinnati Appeals court has now overturned that ruling, on the basis that the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act – more commonly used to target on-line music piracy – also prohibits sampling.
"If you cannot pirate the whole sound recording, can you 'lift' or 'sample' something less than the whole? Our answer to that question is in the negative", said the Court.
"Get a license or do not sample. We do not see this as stifling creativity in any significant way".