Category Archives: Copyright

Charlie Hebdo, Copyright, and Sanctioning Speech

All the recent headline coverage of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack and it’s free speech implications has got me thinking about how speech is regulated both through culture and through law. For example in the United States the government allows neo-Nazi groups to form and advocate their beliefs. Most Americans abhor the messages put out […]

January 13, 2015 – 2:42 am | By Greg Epstein @lwThinking | Posted in Copyright, Free Speech | Comments (0)

A De Minimis Victory in Hip Hop

Long story short: unauthorized sampling in hip hop has been illegal since 1991 when a district court ruled that sampling constituted copyright infringement no matter how small the sample (Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records Inc.).  This ruling was reaffirmed in 2005 by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films. […]

December 25, 2014 – 2:32 pm | By Greg Epstein @lwThinking | Posted in Copyright, Music | Comments (0)