Donald Trump has failed to throw out musician Eddy Grant’s lawsuit regarding the former president’s use of the song “Electric Avenue” in a campaign video.
US District Court Judge, John Koetl, rejected Trump’s motion to dismiss on the grounds that use of the song was fair use.
Koetl said the use of “Electric Avenue”, a 1983 hit for Grant, was essentially “wholesale copying of music to accompany a political campaign ad”.
The judge’s ruling continued: “While it is true that the animation is partisan political commentary and the song apparently is not, the inquiry does not focus exclusively on the character of the animation; rather, it focuses on the character of the animation’s use of Grant’s song.”
Grant filed suit against Trump last year after the former president uploaded a video to Twitter that depicted an animated Joe Biden on an old fashioned train lagging behind Trump’s high speed locomotive.
The video was later removed by Twitter following the copyright claim.
Trump begun his motion to dismiss last November, arguing that the use of “Electric Avenue” was for satire and not to disseminate the song.
A number of other artists such as The Rolling Stones and Neil Young have also criticised Trump for using their music without permission.
The suit is now expected to go to discovery.
