It is the end of a judicial battle which has lasted for more than ten years. In its ruling on May 31^st, the German Constitutional Court overturned a 2012 ruling which banned the sale of the 1997 song “Nur mir” by the hip hop producer Moses Pelham. However the courts most recent verdict has meant that the court deems that artists can use, in their own music some external audio clips without asking permission and without paying royalties, as long as the copyright infringement remains “marginal”. In such situations, the Court of Karlsruhe says that artistic freedom is more important than intellectual property rights.

Ralf Hütter, Kraftwerk’s leader, argued after the verdict that the biblical commandment, ‘thou shalt not steal’ should also appeal to music. However Moses Pelham’s defense was based on the argument that there is an essential and historic link between sampling and hip-hop, without which hip-hop creation would be severely cut short.

Judge Ferdinand Kirchhof, agreed with Pelham’s position, saying that prohibiting such a practice would “to all intents and purposes prohibit the creation of musical pieces of a particular style”. Furthermore, the two-second beat used to make a loop in Pelham’s song was only used to complete an original song and was not the basis of the song. Therefore, Peham’s song does not infringe Kraftwerk’s property rights nor have its financial interests been damaged.

It can be seen clearly within the classical music genre, where composers like Bach or Beethoven often combined their music with others to create new original songs, which was seen as a form of homage and recognition.

However, it is still uncertain as to what extend the ruling announced by the court, will influence the music industry. According to Cliff Fluet, a London based lawyer who specializes in music rights, ‘the answer is probably no because each case is so subjective’. It is still uncertain to what degree sampling is permitted, the court declared that sampling could potentially involve a fee if the legislator should pass such a law. Finaly copyright law was harmonized in the European Union in 2002, so the German justice says that the issue should ultimately be decided by the European Court.

• References: http://www.dw.com/en/opinion-two-seconds-of-kraftwerk-beat-and-a-verdict-for-artistic-freedom/a-19295379
• References: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jun/01/kraftwerk-sampling-lawsuit-defeat-sabrina-setlur-precedent
• References: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36415880
• References: http://fr.traxmag.com/article/33749-kraftwerk-perd-son-proces-face-a-un-producteur-de-hip-hop