George Clinton Takes On Sample Troll Bridgeport Music Again: The DNA Of Hip Hop Has Been Hijacked
from the copyright-trolls dept
For many years, we've covered the odd situation between Bridgeport Music and George Clinton. The history there is highly disputed, but somewhere along the line, Bridgeport Music (apparently a one-man shop by a guy named Armen Boladian) "acquired" the rights to a bunch of George Clinton songs. Clinton claims that Boladian "stole" them and forged his signature on various documents. There are other versions of the story that involve questionable actions by agents, lawyers and record labels. Either way, about a decade ago, Boladian noticed that tons of hip hop songs sampled Clinton songs, and he dug up every single example he could find and sued them all -- filing hundreds of lawsuits. Some resulted in legal victories, including an absolutely dreadfully ridiculous ruling in the 6th Circuit, Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films, which involved an almost totally unrecognizable 2-second sample of a Funkadelic tune that had the pitch changed. The district court reasonably found no copyright violation, but the appeals court, in a ruling that shocked many copyright scholars, stated that any copy was a violation: "Get a license or do not sample. We do not see this as stifling creativity in any significant way."Either way, George Clinton and Bridgeport have battled it out before, with Clinton agreeing to testify on behalf of certain artists sued by Bridgeport in the past. Clinton claims that Bridgeport dropped the cases every time he did that. Last week, Bridgeport sued Lil Wayne over a George Clinton sample, and Clinton is apparently not at all happy about it, putting out the following video where he calls the whole thing "bullshit" (in two languages! so slightly NSFW):
The DNA of hip hop has been hijacked, leaving many artists across generations in needless hardship.Unfortunately, in all the years following Bridgeport and George Clinton, I have to admit that Clinton is anything but clear and detailed in explaining what happened or even what's going on today. The same is true of the current video which doesn't go into much detail. And while it points people to Clinton's blog Funkprobosci to "help stop" Bridgeport, there really isn't that much additional infromation. There is an FAQ, which has some info, but is again confusing and not particularly detailed. It would be great if there were a more complete and detailed explanation of (1) how Bridgeport got Clinton's music (2) the existing legal challenges between Clinton and Bridgeport, and (3) what Clinton is trying to do now.
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Filed Under: copyright, george clinton, hiphop, lil wayne, music, sampling
Companies: bridgeport, cash music
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Curious to see how those folks will respond to this situation.
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They won't...
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Bridgeport claims ownership to the majority of P-Funk's music by using a forged document from 1983 dealing with the transfer of the Malbiz catalog of songs. Armen Boladian has admitted in court that he signed George's name, changed wording of the contract w/o notification, and practiced these same tactics on numerous other documents. Essentially Bridgeport acquired the music through theft, coercion, blackmail & other highly dubious actions.
George is currently trying to make others aware of the situation & finally get his day in court. For decades those involved against him (BMI, Universal Music Group, Hendricks & Lewis, Nene Montes, Sync2Picture, Kobalt) have done everything they can to keep George from testifying in court or allowing crucial documents to be entered into evidence. They know their evidence is fabricated and that the court will side with George (as happened in 2005 when he was awarded 4 masters back). Bridgeport has dug itself into a hole with all it's backroom dealings. So much so a RICO case is being prepared against them.
Feel free to send additional inquiries to: Funkprobosci@gmail.com
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And does it surprise anyone this happens with how copyright has been twisted to protect the labels and not the artist....IF copyright was really really about the artist, then George Clinton (for the sake of all that is good and holy, FUNK-incarnate) says no problem, and some faceless, dirt dealer is suing everyone for something the Bridgeport had no hand in... but the ARTIST who made it and did everything is left back... Defend it you damn maximist defend your stance we are the thieves yet here the ARTIST is screwed not by his fans, but by twisting and turning copyright law.... show me how this "Promotes" anything but theft by YOU.. how this "Helps" the artist...
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There's no honor among thieves
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co-writer
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donniesterling p-funk /kiddo
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