Berlin – Platinum German rapper Bushido is once again facing a lawsuit for copyright infringement. Alexander Duve, Attorney for the French gothic band Dark Sanctuary issued a statement saying that the band has filed charges against Bushido for copyright infringement as an out of court settlement has failed. The French band and their Italian record label Sound Cave have included Bushido, his record label Ersguterjunge as well as the parent label Universal Music in the lawsuit. Bushido will have to appear at the State Court of Hamburg, Germany to face the charges in January 2009.
The band claims that they recognized their own music in 8 of the songs from the 2006 album Von der Skyline zum Bordstein zurück, which Bushido had used without permission. Overall, the lawsuit covers 16 cases of copyright infringement.
The claim is being supported by Hartmut Fladt, music professor at the Berlin University of Arts. He has been quoted saying that “he has never come across such a drastic case of abuse and plundering of a copyrighted source as he has in this one”. When a German news agency questioned him about the case. He said “sampling is quite common in the hip-hop world, but before other artist's songs can be used it is essential to get their permission.”
Now I've been following Bushido for a while and I'm getting a severe case of deja-vu! It is not the first time Bushido has been accused of lifting material from gothic and metal bands in recent times.
In 2007, Bushido earned more international press coverage when he was threatened with legal action by the symphonic metal band Dimmu Borgir, who claimed that Bushido had sampled two of their songs without permission - "Mourning Palace" and "Alt Lys Er Svunnet Hen". The Bushido songs named were "Mittelfingah" and "Engel". Dimmu Borgir's manager was quoted as saying that '...since we were not contacted by Bushido through proper channels and told about his desire to do this, it is clear that Bushido has seriously infringed our intellectual property rights.'
Two songs from the Liverpool band Antimatter had samples taken from them by Bushido without permission, although this was settled before any legal action was taken.
On September 26, 2008, Bushido was charged with international copyright infringement by the American gothic band Nox Arcana for copying music from three of their songs: "Beyond Midnight" (copied by Bushido on "Weißt Du?"), "No Rest for the Wicked" (copied by Bushido on "Kurt Cobain") and "Cthulhu Rising" (copied by Bushido on "Blaus Licht"). The Nox Arcana songs appear on their albums Darklore Manor (2003) and Necronomicon (2004). The Bushido album is once again Von der Skyline Zum Bordstein Zurück (2006), which was re-released in 2007 after going Platinum in Germany.
The band claims that they recognized their own music in 8 of the songs from the 2006 album Von der Skyline zum Bordstein zurück, which Bushido had used without permission. Overall, the lawsuit covers 16 cases of copyright infringement.
The claim is being supported by Hartmut Fladt, music professor at the Berlin University of Arts. He has been quoted saying that “he has never come across such a drastic case of abuse and plundering of a copyrighted source as he has in this one”. When a German news agency questioned him about the case. He said “sampling is quite common in the hip-hop world, but before other artist's songs can be used it is essential to get their permission.”
Now I've been following Bushido for a while and I'm getting a severe case of deja-vu! It is not the first time Bushido has been accused of lifting material from gothic and metal bands in recent times.
In 2007, Bushido earned more international press coverage when he was threatened with legal action by the symphonic metal band Dimmu Borgir, who claimed that Bushido had sampled two of their songs without permission - "Mourning Palace" and "Alt Lys Er Svunnet Hen". The Bushido songs named were "Mittelfingah" and "Engel". Dimmu Borgir's manager was quoted as saying that '...since we were not contacted by Bushido through proper channels and told about his desire to do this, it is clear that Bushido has seriously infringed our intellectual property rights.'
Two songs from the Liverpool band Antimatter had samples taken from them by Bushido without permission, although this was settled before any legal action was taken.
On September 26, 2008, Bushido was charged with international copyright infringement by the American gothic band Nox Arcana for copying music from three of their songs: "Beyond Midnight" (copied by Bushido on "Weißt Du?"), "No Rest for the Wicked" (copied by Bushido on "Kurt Cobain") and "Cthulhu Rising" (copied by Bushido on "Blaus Licht"). The Nox Arcana songs appear on their albums Darklore Manor (2003) and Necronomicon (2004). The Bushido album is once again Von der Skyline Zum Bordstein Zurück (2006), which was re-released in 2007 after going Platinum in Germany.
