Ah, the good old “how many notes can be sampled before you infringe copyright?” debate, that’s always fun. Though in America the answer usually seems to be “not very many at all actually”.

The estate of the Notorious BIG has launched a pre-emptive lawsuit over allegations one of the late rapper’s tracks infringed the copyright in a 1970s song. It seems that the owner of the latter track has been making high demands, and most recently moved to halt the payout of royalties on the rap release pending litigation.

The case is interesting, because no one is denying that 1994 Biggie Smalls track ‘The What’ samples, without permission, the 1974 song ‘Can’t Say Enough About Mom’, which was co-written by soul singer Leroy Hutson and Michael Hawkins.

But the Notorious BIG estate reckons that only “two non-sequential tones” were taken from the original, and that they were modified for the new track. And such usage, the Biggie estate says, constitutes fair use under US copyright law, so no infringement took place.

Although originally put out by Curtis Mayfield’s music company, ownership of ‘Can’t Say Enough About Mom’ seemingly reverted to Hutson in 1989, and it is he who is threatening to go legal. Hutson first alleged infringement had occurred fourteen years after ‘The What’ was released, and out of court negotiations have seemingly being going on ever since.

Billboard says that during this time Hutson’s legal reps have demanded 50% ownership of the Notorius BIG track, including 50% of all income generated by it over the years. But legal experts hired by the estate say they are confident that, under American case law, the size and nature of the ‘Can’t Say’ sample means there is no case for infringement.

With the dispute now heading for court, the BIG estate clearly wanted to get in first, seeking court confirmation that no infringement occurred, and damages from Hutson for ‘copyright misuse’, based on the allegation he has been threatening legal action in the knowledge no actual infringement took place.

Though when it comes to sampling cases in the US jurisdiction there is rarely such certainty. It will be interesting to see what happens if this dispute does indeed reach a court room.

- See more at: http://www.completemusicupdate.com/article/notorious-big-estate-sues-over-uncleared-sample-claim/#sthash.vcNGM7kX.dpuf

Ryan O'Neal, the Hollywood actor, has won a long and bitter legal battle over ownership of an Andy Warhol portrait of his late lover Farrah Fawcett.


A jury in Los Angeles decided that the painting, worth millions of dollars, belongs to O'Neal rather than the University of Texas, to which Fawcett bequeathed her art collection when she died of cancer in 2009 aged 62.


In a three week trial O'Neal, 72, the star of Love Story, gave emotional evidence in which he was forced to discuss how in 1997 Fawcett caught him in bed with a 25-year-old woman, which left Fawcett feeling "pitful and disgraced".


At one point Jaclyn Smith, Fawcett's co-star in the TV series Charlie's Angels, broke down in tears outside court after attending to support O'Neal.


The 40-inch by 40-inch silkscreen on canvas portrait at the centre of the dispute was one of two made by Warhol in 1980. After the actress died the university, her almer mater, received one of them.

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University officials then discovered that the other portrait was in O'Neal's home in Malibu, California. It was clearly visible haning above his bed in a reality television show he filmed there.

O'Neal claimed that Warhol, who he had known since the 1960s, gave one painting each to Fawcett and himself, and that the university was pursuing both out of simple greed.

In the witness box he told the jury of six men and six women that he talked to the painting. He said: "I talk to it. I talk to her. It's her presence in my life and her son's life. We lost her. It would seem a crime to lose it."

The court heard that O'Neal and Fawcett were in a relationship for 30 years but never married, and had separate homes.

One of the Warhols hung in O'Neal's Malibu home until the 1997 incident in which he was caught with a younger woman. The following year, according to O'Neal, his younger companion felt "uncomfortable with Farrah staring at her,” so he gave the portrait to Fawcett to look after at her home.