After Donald Trump shared a campaign video on Twitter in 2020 utilizing Eddy Grant‘s 1982 hit “Electric Avenue,” the Guyanese-British musician filed a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement. And while developments on the suit moved slowly, the case has now been discontinued two months after it was ruled that Trump did, in fact, infringe on musician’s copyright.
According to Billboard, the suit was settled without going to trial though the official amount of money that Trump owes Grant in damages has yet to be disclosed.
Four years ago, the official Eddy Grant website published a statement alleging that Trump was liable for $100,000,000+ with the artist’s legal counsel, Wallace E.J. Collin, stating:
“As a result of your wrongful unauthorized Infringing Use in connection with your controversial political campaign, substantial damage and irreparable harm has occurred and will continue to occur to my client and his reputation as an artist when affiliated in any way with your campaign.” “We prefer to resolve this dispute expeditiously, in order to avoid time-consuming and costly litigation and the negative publicity that can surround the unauthorized use of such an iconic musical composition especially where the use indicates a fundamental misunderstanding of the very meaning of the underlying work.”
In Grant’s own words he said “I call upon such arbiter, as is responsible for this sordid abuse, to come forward like a man and let’s sort this thing out, in the way that America demands when such issues are to be sorted, especially when they are wrong. Mr Trump, I am calling on you. You are the final arbiter and I await the word from you.”
Though the video for ‘Electric Avenue’ was quickly removed from Twitter (now X), Eddy maintained that the damage had already been done and in September, Judge John G. Koeltl described the video as “a wholesale copying of music to accompany a political campaign ad.”
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Author: Al; Denté
Photo: Stuart Sevastos