September 10, 2024
Eddy Grant is battling it out with Donald Trump for including “Electric Avenue” in a 2020 campaign video.
Another day, another music artist coming after Donald Trump for unauthorized use of their song during his campaign.
This time around, Trump is locked in a court battle with singer Eddy Grant for including his 1983 hit “Electric Avenue” in an animated clip posted on Twitter in 2020 mocking his opponent, Joe Biden. Lawyers for Trump and Grant appeared for the 90-minute hearing where New York federal judge John G. Koeltl probed each side on what a jury would be allowed to decide if the four-year-old copyright case ever goes to trial, Deadline reported.
Trump argues that Grant never had the grounds to sue since he didn’t hold a proper copyright to the song at the time of filing suit. Grant registered “Electric Avenue” with the U.S. Copyright Office just last month.
The singer first filed the suit in response to Trump’s campaign video showing a Trump-branded freight train rumbling over Biden, who was riding in a slow-moving handcar. Grant accused Trump of using his song to spew “derogatory political rhetoric” that was “wicked” and caused him “considerable emotional distress.”
The singer initially sued Trump for $100 million for copyright infringement but has since lowered the amount to just $300,000 in damages. Trump’s lawyers argue that the use of “Electric Avenue” was considered fair use under U.S. copyright law, which allows for an “expressive” and “transformative” non-commercial form of political commentary to receive First Amendment protection.
Grant’s lawyers argue that he didn’t need to file a copyright on the 1983 release because he owns the copyright for a 2002 greatest-hits album that includes “Electric Avenue.”
“The defendants could have used any song, or no song at all, to convey their political message,” Grant’s lawyer said.
However, Trump’s lawyers claim Grant was improperly “bootstrapping” a copyright claim for the greatest-hits album. But Judge Koeltl didn’t agree.
“I don’t see the cases out there that say you can’t do this,” Koeltl said.
The hearing came three days after a federal judge in Atlanta removed Isaac Hayes’ classic R&B song “Hold On, I’m Coming” from Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign playlist. Other artists who have come at Trump for using their music in his presidential campaign include the Foo Fighters, ABBA, Celine Dion, Jack White, Johnny Marr of The Smiths, and the estate of Sinead O’Connor.
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