An appeals court in Berlin has overturned a lower court’s decision that producer Moses Pelham was in the wrong for sampling two seconds of Kraftwerk’s “Metal on Metal” on a 1997 track. The ruling sends the case back down to a lower court, although you have to think somewhere Gregg Gillis is celebrating. The higher court stated that the amount of the song sampled was insignificant, and that the sample was used in a manner significantly different than the original track. What difference does this make in the long run? Probably not much, although if you listen to the track “Metal On Metal” was part of against Kraftwerk’s will (both tracks are below the cut), you might understand why those robots were pissed.

Sabrina Setlur, “Nur mir”:

Kraftwerk, “Metal on Metal”:

Kraftwerk sample case overturned [BBC]