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14 Va. Sports & Ent. L.J. 219 (2014-2015)
Rhymin' and Stealin? The History of Sampling in the Hip-Hop and Dance Music World and How U.S. Copyright Law & Judicial Precedent Serves to Shackle Art

handle is hein.journals/virspelj14 and id is 223 raw text is: Note Rhymin' and Stealin'? The History of Sampling in the Hip-Hop and Dance Music Worlds and How U.S. Copyright Law & Judicial Precedent Serves to Shackle Art Wayne M. Cox* I. INTRODUCTION It is entirely possible that the only original creation mankind has ever produced was the invention of fire. Even then, that could have simply been inspired through the witnessing of lightning striking trees in a prehistoric forest. Regardless, it is inarguable that for thousands of years, creations of all kinds on this Earth have been mostly inspired by previous creations and works in some way. Approximately 224 years have sped by since the Founding Fathers of this country formed the basis for U.S. copyright law and created the Copyright Act of 1790. This law provided that Congress shall have the power To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.' However, in a quite ironic twist, the Copyright Act of 1790 was copied nearly verbatim from the British Parliament's copyright statutory framework in use at that time, known as the Statute of Anne.2 Since the Founding Fathers' first attempt at protecting copyrights, U.S. copyright law has gone through a number of iterations. Although the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)3 made significant amendments to U.S. federal copyright law by implementing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty and attempting to cover the widespread infringement problem of online piracy brought forth by the internet, the Copyright Act of 1976 J.D. 2015, Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University; B.S. 2012, Villanova University School of Business. The author is beyond thankful for growing up with basketball, hip-hop, and for all of the eye-opening life lessons learned along the way. Most of all, thank you to Mr. Christopher Letso for showing me a whole different world and without whom this never would have been possible. U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 8. 2 1 Peter K. Yu, Intellectual Property and Information Wealth: Issues and Practices in the Digital Age 143 (2007). Additionally, although it was later replaced by the Copyright Act of 1842, the Statute of Anne was the first statute in the world which provided for the government to protect copyright protection instead of placing the burden upon individual citizens. See William F. Patry, Copyright Law and Practice 11 (1994), http://digital-law-online.info/patry/patry2.html; Jeremy Norman, The Statute of Anne: The First Copyright Statute (1909), History of Information.com, http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.phpid=3389 (last visited June 8, 2015). 3 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Pub. L. No. 105-304, 112 Stat. 2860 (1998).

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