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Donald Trump Infringed ‘Electric Avenue’ By Using Song In Campaign Video, Judge Rules


Donald Trump infringed copyrights by using Eddy Grant’s iconic "Electric Avenue" in a 2020 campaign video without permission, a federal judge ruled.

Four years earlier, Grant filed a similar case over Trump’s “wrongful and willful” use of “Electric Avenue,” a funky, reggae-infused track about the 1981 Brixton riot, named for a road running through that London neighborhood. Facing those allegations, Trump’s legal team argued that the video amounted to fair use, claiming the campaign had transformed Grant’s song into a vehicle to criticize Biden. “The animation does not use ‘Electric Avenue’ as a vehicle to deliver its satirical message, and it makes no effort to poke fun at the song or Grant,” Judge Koeltl wrote, quoting directly from his earlier decision.

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