Name That Note.

The article focuses on the issue of copyright and intellectual property in the music industry. In a digital world, where entire songs and movies can be composed from bits and pieces of other media, lawyers are working overtime to protect what their clients see as the right to be paid for every scrap of intellectual property. In a September ruling by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio, a three-judge panel determined that any copy of a sound recording, no matter how brief, violates federal copyright law unless the copier obtains a license. Artists, as a group, do not benefit from this zealous defense. Record companies charge the costs of sampling licenses against the royalties of the performers who use the samples; at the other end, they keep half or more of the royalties. In many cases the original artist no longer owns the sampled recording anyway. The process certainly is not pleasant for musicians who rely on digital technology to compose.