| Eddy Grant on Electric
Avenue Beat Trump On Summary Judgment Now Case
Settles
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Nov 20 – For unauthorized use
in an anti-Biden tweet of Eddy
Grant's song "Electric
Avenue," Donald Trump and his
then-campaign have been sued
for copyright
violation.
On December 4,
2020 U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York Judge John G. Koeltl held
a pre-motion conference. Inner
City Press covered and live
tweeted it, thread here
and below, followed by a
bit of copyright / Digital
Millennium Copyright Act
analysis.
On
December 28 Grant opposed
Trump's motion to dismiss,
citing among other things Don
Henley's case against a
California Senatorial
candidate who used his song to
"denigrate his rival Barbara
Boxer, as well as Nancy
Pelosi, Barack Obama and 'cap
and trade and global warming
policies.'" Unlike Neil Young,
Grant is pressing forward.
And on
September 28, 2021Judge Koeltl
denied the defendant's motion
to dismiss, stating that
"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."
Jump cut to
December 21, 2022, when
Grant's lawyer pushed to
depose Dan Scavino - and it
will happen, after a letter
that Inner City Press will
also cover. December 21 thread
here
Inner City Press
will stay on the case(s) -
watch this site.
Inner City
Press' experience
with misuse of the DMCA is a
UN Reuters reporter, now Human
Rights Watch UN rep Louis
Charbonneau, getting
Google to remove from Search a
leaked copy of his email
lobbying Antonio Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric to
oust
Inner City Press from the UN -
on the argument that a leaked
email is copyrighted, a truly
negative precedent for
investigative journalism.
On August 9, 2024
Judge Koeltl ordered briefing,
and held argument that Inner
City Press attended. On
September 13 he ruled for
Grant: "the defendants' motion
for partial summary judgment
dismissing Count II is denied.
The plaintiffs' motion for
summary judgment dismissing
the defendants' "fair use"
defense is granted, and the
plaintiffs are entitled to
judgment on liability."
30 page order on
Patreon here.
On November 20,
it settled: "ORDER: It having
been reported to this Court
that the parties have settled
this action, it is hereby
ordered that this matter be
discontinued with prejudice
but without costs; provided,
however, that within 30 days
of the date of this order,
counsel for the plaintiff may
apply by letter for
restoration of the action to
the calendar of the
undersigned, in which event
the action will be restored.
Any application to reopen must
be filed within thirty (30)
days of this order" - Order on
Patreon here
This case is Grant et al. v. Trump et al., 20-cv-7103
(Koeltl)
***
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