What copyright laws apply to preview mp3s on commercial sites?

Question

Who owns the copyright of the preview mp3s which are freely available on record shop/commercial mp3 sites?
Can I legally sample a milisecond/second of these mp3s for use in my own productions?
Sub-query: If I purchase an MP3 and download it directly to a CD without it touching my hard-drive (so as not to replicate it illegally), what laws stop me from selling that CD as a product?

Answer 1

The copyright exists in all published works, including sample tracks. You can't incorporate any part of a published work into your own derivitive works without permission

Answer 2

The existance of copyrighted material of any length and any duration of time in your computer is a violation if done without permission of the rights holders. Your computer or CD burner requires a data buffer to operate, so you are out of luck. All ip networks buffer data packets, so network delivery is also considered a violation of effemeral rights.

Just because you can hear a song for the cost of a meal at a cafe, or listen on the radio does give you the rights to record and sell copies. Same applies to MP3 samples. The owners are giving you a chance to listen in, not to create your own record label. To produce and sell music you have recorded without composers permission is not legal. To use music that was originally recorded by someone else would be yet another infraction.

Answer 3

Owner of any work has got absolute ownership. Any violation in whatsoever manner attracts penal consequences in law. You are imitating work owned by another person. Merely because it is freely available does not mean that it gives permission in any manner to use the work of other person.