September 09, 2004

As reported by Larry Lessig digital sampling is illegal. I'm assuming the court in this case is talking about sampling music. My question is what about digital photography? Is it now against the law to photograph a building? Say an architect has a reconizable style to buildings he creates such as a strong horizontal element (think Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Style). If you photograph one of his buildings with a digital camera are you sampling the building? Is that an illegal activity? The photograph of the building can never be mistaken for the building but it may be a derivitive work. I may be in trouble with Famous Dave's!