The case in which the court wrote: "Get a license or do not sample. We do not see this as stifling creativity in any significant way." A bit of a setback for mashup/music collage artists. We studied this one in class, but it's certainly relevant and important to this topic. The George Clinton estate sued because a short sample of a Clinton song was employed in a different song. The court came down very harshly against the samplers, ruling that all samples must be licensed or else the sampler has stolen from the original author.

This case is extremely relevant to my paper because it is my contention that the court was wrong in dismissing unlicensed sampling as theft. Although I am very willing to admit that sampling of copyrightable material can infringe on the original copyright, it is my contention that if sampling artists are careful to make sure that all of their uses are transformative, it is possible to sample in a constructive and legal manner without a license.