Madonna triumphed in a copyright case concerning her song “Vogue,” in a victory for artists seeking to use samples.
The lawsuit concerns a brief horn riff that appears five times in the radio version of “Vogue,” a dance track that was a major hit for the pop superstar in 1990.
The Salsoul Orchestra funk ensemble first recorded the horns in the early 1980s on the song “Ooh I Love It (Love Break“). The track was produced by Shep Pettibone, who went on to make “Vogue” with Madonna.
VMG Salsoul, the company that holds the copyright to the earlier song, sued Madonna and Pettibone over the horn snippet and said that it deserved compensation.
But the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a 2013 lower court decision that found that the sample was “de minimiz,” or too trivial to warrant attention.
“We conclude that a reasonable juror could not conclude that an average audience would recognize the appropriation of the horn,” Susan Graber, a judge based in Portland, Oregon, wrote for the court.
While changing little for Madonna, the ruling could help future artists using samples as it puts the Ninth Circuit, which covers California, directly at odds with another federal appeals court.
In a 2005 ruling known as the Bridgeport case, the Sixth Circuit which includes the music hub of Nashville ruled against gangsta rappers N.W.A. whose “100 Miles and Runnin’” sampled a brief guitar riff from funk greats Funkadelic.

Source : Arab News