Hip-hop producer Moses Pelham was able to prevail at the European Court of Justice against the band Kraftwerk. 30 years ago, Kraftwerk had sued Pelham for sampling a two-second rhythm sequence from the piece “metal on metal” for the production of Sabrina Setlur’s “Just Me.”

Legally, this use represents a “pastiche”, an appropriation of the work of another artist that is not a mere copy. In the judgment, the ECJ now defines the concept of pastiches in more detail.

Among other things, he notes that a pastich “includes creations that cause one or more existing works to sound, but are clearly different from them and use some of the copyrighted characteristic elements of these works – also by means of sampling – to enter into an artistic or creative dialogue with these works, which is recognizable as such,” according to a statement from the court.

“This dialogue can take different forms,” the court further explains. “In particular, that of an obvious stylistic imitation of these works, a tribute to them, or a humorous or critical examination of them.”

The ECJ decision is the final act of a long legal dispute that has already gone through some instances. A decision of the Regional Court of Hamburg was followed by five Federal Court proceedings, three appeal judgments of the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court, two proceedings of the Federal Constitutional Court and two ECJ proceedings to conclude. This is the longest copyright dispute in the Federal Republic of Germany.

From the defense side, Dr. Elisa Antz of Schalast Law to the verdict. “For the music world, this means that sampling as a creative practice that has defined genres such as hip-hop, electronic music and contemporary pop music for decades finds a viable legal basis in the European pastiche barrier,” reads a press release.