Madonna, Producer Shep Pettibone Off The Hook With “Vogue” Copyright Lawsuit

Madonna and Shep Pettibone, the once-prolific producer the pop queen hadn’t worked with since her 1992 album Erotica, found themselves linked together once again, though it wasn’t for a musical collaboration. The pair were named in a 2012 copyright infringement lawsuit by VMG Salsoul LLC that claimed Madonna’s chart-topping 1990 hit “Vogue” contains a small sample of The Salsoul Orchestra‘s disco-rap track “Ooh, I Love It (Love Break)”. Four years later, Madonna, Pettibone and Warner Bros. Records have now been cleared of any wrongdoing by The 9th U.S. Circuit Court Of Appeals, which ruled that a general audience would not recognize the less-than-half-a-second snippet in “Vogue” as originating from the song “Love Break.”

“The portions of ‘Love Break’, which have been copied into ‘Vogue’ and all its various ‘mixes,’ ‘remixes’ videos, YouTube versions, etc. are numerous but intentionally hidden,” the 2012 suit claimed. “The horn and strings in ‘Vogue’ are intentionally sampled from ‘Love Break’ throughout.”

You can hear the original horn part in “Ooh, I Love It (Love Break)” starting at the 4:37 mark in the below clip.

“Vogue” originally appeared on I’m Breathless, the soundtrack to the 1990 film Dick Tracy, which starred Warren Beatty and Madonna. The song’s video, directed by David Fincher, subsequently won three MTV Video Music Awards.

Pettibone also produced “Ooh, I Love It (Love Break).” According to the Associated Press, the three-judge 9th Circuit panel ruled 2 to 1 in favor of Madonna, Pettibone and other defendants. Dissenting Judge Barry Silverman wrote, “In any other context, this would be called theft.”

Coincidentally, “Vogue” was the ruling single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart 26 years ago this week.

Do you think the plaintiff had any merit in even filing the lawsuit? Let us know below, or by hitting us up on Twitter and Facebook.