Court Rules Against Kraftwerk In Sampling Case

German electronic music pioneers ruled against in sampling case

Kraftwerk were dealt a blow by Germany's high court (November 20) in lawsuit determining whether artists should have the right to sample other bands' music without infringing on copyright.

In the ruling issued last month, the high court overturned an earlier ruling by Hamburg state court in Kraftwerk's favor stating that reusing even the shortest snippet of a song was considered copyright infringement.

The court had prohibited the sampling of a song melody unless it was part of a completely new work bearing no resemblance to the original.

Now the German high court has overturned that decision and sent the case back to the civil court, reports the Associated Press.

Kraftwerk sued rap producer Moses Pelham for sampling two seconds of their 1977 song 'Metal On Metal' in the track 'Nur Mir' by Sabrina Setlur.