Kraftwerk sampling dispute moves back to Germany after CJEU pastiche ruling
Kraftwerk, the Düsseldorf electronic music group, have received a legal setback in the long-running “Metall auf Metall” sampling dispute after the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered its judgment in Case C-590/23, “Pelham (Concept of ‘pastiche’)”, on 14 April 2026. The ruling clarifies how the EU copyright exception for pastiche can apply to sampling.
However unlike what other reports say, this does not close the German proceedings. The Federal Court of Justice in Germany must now apply the CJEU’s interpretation to the case.
The dispute concerns an approximately two-second rhythm sequence from Kraftwerk’s 1977 track “Metall auf Metall”. “Metall auf Metall” originally appeared on the 1977 release “Trans-Europe Express”. The sequence was electronically copied and used as a continuous loop in “Nur mir“, a 1997 song by German rapper Sabrina Setlur produced by Pelham GmbH. The recording also appeared again in 2004.
Below is a German documentary on the issue.
What the Kraftwerk copyright case ruling says
The CJEU ruled that the pastiche exception can cover creations that evoke existing works while remaining noticeably different from them. The court said this can include sampling when the new work enters an “artistic or creative dialogue” with the earlier work. It also said that the user’s subjective intention is not required; the pastiche character must be recognisable to someone familiar with the source work.
The court also set limits. The exception is not a general permission for any creative use of protected material, and it does not cover concealed imitation or plagiarism. The EU IP Helpdesk however notes that a reproduction which merely repeats an element without evident creative interaction does not meet the pastiche test.
We previously covered the earlier 2019 EU ruling in Kraftwerk wins sampling case in EU top court: permission needs to be obtained to sample another musician’s song. That ruling stated that unauthorised sampling could infringe phonogram producer rights unless the sample was modified into a form unrecognisable to the ear.
The latest ruling changes the legal route for the post-7 June 2021 part of the dispute, when Germany introduced a copyright exception covering caricature, parody and pastiche. The CJEU noted that the German court had described “Nur mir” as engaging artistically with the rhythm sequence from “Metall auf Metall” while using it in another genre and at a reduced tempo. The German court still has to decide the pending dispute.
About Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 around Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. The project grew out of the West German experimental scene after Hütter and Schneider’s earlier work in Organisation, whose album “Tone Float” was issued in 1970. Early Kraftwerk lineups changed often, with later members including Wolfgang Flür and Karl Bartos before the group settled into the better-known 1970s formation.
The band’s release history moved from the early albums “Kraftwerk” and “Kraftwerk 2” to “Ralf & Florian”, before “Autobahn” in 1974 marked a wider shift toward electronic instrumentation. Kraftwerk followed with “Radio-Activity”, “Trans-Europe Express”, “The Man-Machine”, “Computer World”, “Electric Café” and “Tour de France Soundtracks”.
Schneider left Kraftwerk in 2008 and died in 2020. Hütter continued the group, with Henning Schmitz, Falk Grieffenhagen and Georg Bongartz as live members.
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