In 1991, In the case of Grand Upright Music Ltd. v. Warner Bros.

Records,
Inc.,rapper Biz Markie had violated the copyright of Raymond Gilbert
OSullivans Alone Again (Naturally), which Markie had sampled in his song
Alone Again on his album I Need A Haircut.
Southern District of New York decided the first case of infringement involving
digital sampling, Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v.Warner Bros. Records, Inc. This
case dealt with the copyright to the musical composition and 1972 pop hit
Alone Again (Naturally),composed by Raymond "Gilbert" O'Sullivan, and
owned by plaintiff music publisher Grand Upright Music, Ltd. Counsel for rap
artist Biz Markie wrote to O'Sullivan's agent and requested consent to use the
copyrighted song on his new album, but no consent to use the copyrighted song
was ever obtained. Nonetheless, Biz Markie recorded the album I Need a
Haircut on the Warner Brothers label, which included a track entitled Alone
Again
Ironically, Biz Markie digitally sampled eight bars of music comprising
approximately ten minutes, which was repeated throughout his song. The only
other music that was used was a single repeated drum beat that was added to the
rap lyrics. As neither Biz Markie nor Warner Brothers obtained a license for use
of the original work prior to its use in the track Alone Again, Grand Upright
sued for a preliminary injunction based on the infringement of its musical
composition and sound recording.
Interestingly, the respondents contended that they ought to be pardoned from
obligation for this situation in light of the fact that others in the rap music
business additionally utilized copyrighted material without first picking up
assent. The area court discovered this contention to be "completely probable"
and expressed that the main point of the litigants in utilizing the copyrighted
material was "to offer thousands upon a large number of records." Moreover;
the locale court alluded the case to the United States Attorney for the Southern
District of New York for thought of further indictment.
The apparently harsh assessment of the court in Grand Upright may be due to
the way that the example utilized by the defendants within their song, "Alone
Again", was immediately conspicuous as the O'sullivan melody and constituted
just about the whole musical backup to the Biz Markie song. In that capacity,
the court considered the taking to be commensurate to stealing, and in this way
reverberated the assumption of the court in Taxe that re-recording of sounds
constitutes piracy.