A lawsuit claiming that Madonna and producer Robert “Shep” Pettibone illegally sampled a tune on her 1990 international hit “Vogue,” has been resolved with a ruling in favor of the defendants. The original lawsuit was filed in July by VMG Salsoul, the copyright owner of a 1976 composition called “Love Break.” The plaintiff alleged that it was only through new technology that the “deliberately hidden” sampling had been detected. But a U.S. District Court judge in California has ruled on summary judgment that the sampling of the Horn hit was “trivial,” in that in could not be recognized. “Having listened to the sound recordings of “Chicago Bus Stop,” “Love Break,” and “Vogue,” the Court finds that no reasonable audience would find the sampled portions qualitatively or quantitatively significant in relation to the infringing work, nor would they recognize the appropriation,” the ruling reads. “The Court finds that any sampling of the Horn Hit was de minimis or trivial.”
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