Kraftwerk at the Big Day Out 2003, Melbourne Australia

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Kraftwerk Lose Court Case

by Tim Cashmere - November 24 2008
photo by Ros O'Gorman

Kraftwerk have lost a court battle in which they were suing German rap producer Moses Pelham.

Pelham had used a two second sample of Kraftwerk’s track ‘Metal On Metal’ and Kraftwerk weren’t happy about it. Originally the band won in Hamburg, but Pelham appealed in Germany’s highest civil court and the original ruling (that even an uncleared two second sample of a previously recorded work is copyright infringement) was overturned.

The song in question was ‘Nur Mir’ by Sabrina Setlur, which was released in 1997 on the album ‘Die Neue S-Klasse’.

The new ruling states that a sample can be used, but it must not be the melody of a song, and it must be a completely new composition, baring no resemblance to the original.

More importantly, if this single is eleven years old, what took Kraftwerk so long to complain?

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