Newton v. Diamond
Facts: The bestie boys bought a sample of a flute piece for one of their songs.
Issue: Plaintiff concedes that defendants licensed the sound recording of his work, but alleges that that the defendants use of the sample infringed upon the underlying musical composition.
-they actually did properly liscense the song, however the some folks, like james Newton, thought that his famous three note flute was being distorted to the point where they were indistinguishable
-newton was not getting royalties for this recording because ECM records owned the rights to the piece of music
-newton probably sold it to them
-besties bought it from them not Newton
-plaintiff says that he still maintains the rights to the musical composition
-2 things to own with a piece of music
-sound recording
-musical composition
Holding: no
Reasoinng: once you sell the rights to your music, you no longer have any rights to the music. The court says that the beastie boys do not infringe upon Newton because three note sequence is just too short
Facts: The bestie boys bought a sample of a flute piece for one of their songs.
Issue: Plaintiff concedes that defendants licensed the sound recording of his work, but alleges that that the defendants use of the sample infringed upon the underlying musical composition.
-they actually did properly liscense the song, however the some folks, like james Newton, thought that his famous three note flute was being distorted to the point where they were indistinguishable
-newton was not getting royalties for this recording because ECM records owned the rights to the piece of music
-newton probably sold it to them
-besties bought it from them not Newton
-plaintiff says that he still maintains the rights to the musical composition
-2 things to own with a piece of music
-sound recording
-musical composition
Holding: no
Reasoinng: once you sell the rights to your music, you no longer have any rights to the music. The court says that the beastie boys do not infringe upon Newton because three note sequence is just too short