There have been a ton of lawsuits against artists using short clips from
other works, though I haven't heard of any related to an instrument sample.
Sample CD producers and distributors are extremely protective of their work
however, and often use DRM in their new releases in an attempt to avoid
piracy or conversion into open formats like WAV or SF2. Reason ReFills use
proprietary encryption, and many sample CDs require the use of the
manufacturer's software just to use the samples
>
> I suspect that if AKAI, East West, or some other big name did a
> side-by-side waveform comparison of an LMMS sample and one of their own
> they'd raise hell about it were they to match. Adding reverb or modifying
> the amplitude would nullify a binary match, but you can still tell if it's
> the same sample by aligning the crests/troughs. Also considering Microsoft's
> claims about Linux and OSS violating numerous patents, that would do nothing
> to bolster OSS's reputation as being legally safe to use.
>
> I agree that documentation for each sample is the solution, placing the
> burden of proof of a sample's freeness on the author making the claim. That
> would show that all reasonable precautions were taken and provide a layer of
> protection. Any samples that are unable to be documented should be replaced.
> That would also allow the samples to be included with LMMS without the need
> for a second package.
>
>
>
Hey Kevin!
I disagree this is real danger for a musician.
1. Sample cds very often sample from hardware devices. There is no law which
does not allow you to do that and people absolutely legally record sounds
from their drum machines. Synthesizing a similar kick very often is trivial.
2. A lot of samples are very similar. Comparing byte lengths is very tedious
work and mostly pointless, as even applying a volume envelope will destroy
any reasonable authenticity. Trying to compare something in a mix is total
rubbish and any engineer will testify to the jury that such evidence is
mathematically invalid.
3. Sue cases were over sampled music, not one shot samples of under 1 secs.
If this is not so, can you please point me to an exact case? I've researched
that field and I have heard of no case when a musician's record would be
sued for a base drum sample which he allegedly used and which he maybe did
not pay for.
I agree for LMMS it is safer to have totally legal samples though. So while
musician need not to worry, it is nice if LMMS would clear its samples.
But even then, I really doubt any real danger is for LMMS. Samples which are
distributed are hardly of high quality and obviously if they are from some
cd with a restrictive license, it can be argued that samples are not of high
quality but mere previews. That is, if it is proven, which I do not think
will ever happen.
--
Louigi Verona
http://www.louigiverona.ru/
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