Frank Ocean's 'Super Rich Kids' lawsuit highlights legal issues of sampling

When sampling music, its best to tread lightly. Singer Frank Ocean is the latest to find out the hard way but the issue of music licensing is becoming quite common.

Earlier this month, Ocean was involved in a lawsuit based on the track "Super Rich Kids" from his Channel Orange album.

On Feb. 7, TuffAmerica, a New York label, sued Universal Music Group over a sample used on Frank Ocean's "Super Rich Kids."

But the lawsuit with TuffAmerica is more complicated than it may seem.

TuffAmerica owns rights to one song (The Honeydrippers' "Impeach the President") that wound up on another (Audio Two's "Top Billin' ") that was sampled by a third (Mary J. Blige's "Real Love") that was allegedly included in a fourth, "Super Rich Kids."

TuffAmerica now claims to own 3.15% of the Blige song after a series of past agreements. The label claims that this is enough to claim infringement by Ocean's label.

Lawyer Kelly Talcott says it's easier to confirm the use of samples thanks to fingerprinting technology.

"Sometimes, there might be distortion of the original or a ramping up of the pitch," says Talcott. "Technology allows us to re-create it -- to show the jury, 'Yes, the pitch might be up a few tones, but it's still there.'"

Billboard reports that copyright law provides that in situations of song co-ownership, each owner is allowed to license without the other's permission. The only catch is that co-owners must share the money

In this case, if Ocean was authorized by the owners of Blige's song to use the sample, TuffAmerica might have to settle for a royalty share which would likely be a fraction of its 3.15% share.