(Photo
by
Stephen
Lovekin/WireImage)
Yesterday,
the
White
Stripes
joined
the
long
list
of
artists
suing
Donald
Trump,
whose
campaign
seems
to
take
a
“record
first,
license
later”
approach
to
media
releases.
This
time,
Trump’s
comms
team
expropriated
the
iconic
riff
from
the
band’s
2003
song
“Seven
Nation
Army”
and
released
it
on
social
media
in
an
August
29
video
of
Trump
boarding
a
plane
with
the
caption
“President
@realDonaldTrump
departs
for
Michigan
and
Wisconsin!”
Was
it
a
secret
reference
to
the
former
president’s
wish
to
bring
Russia
back
to
the
G7,
despite
the
protestations
of
the
other
member
nations
that
we
do
not
reward
nations
that
invade
their
neighbors?
Or
was
it
simple
theft?
The
suit
is
a
fun
read:
As
a
self-professed
sophisticated
and
successful
businessman
with
decades-long
experience
in
the
entertainment
industry
(not
to
mention
being
on
the
receiving
end
of
numerous
copyright
claims
by
musical
artists
whose
work
he
used
without
permission),
Defendant
Trump
and
the
other
Defendants,
his
agents,
knew
or
should
have
known
that
the
use
of
the
7NA
Works
in
the
Infringing
Trump
Videos
was
unauthorized,
and,
therefore,
violated
Plaintiffs’
rights
under
the
Copyright
Act.
The
artists
Jack
White
and
Meg
White
note
that
they
put
Trump
and
his
henchman
on
notice
that
they
oppose
the
use,
since
they
publicly
declared
they
were
“disgusted
by
that
association”
when
Trump
played
their
music
at
campaign
rallies
in
2016.
They
add
that
they
reached
out
to
the
campaign
to
protest
the
most
recent
video
and
received
no
response.
This
case
would
appear
to
be
qualitatively
different
from
the
one
filed
recently
by
the
estate
of
Isaac
Hayes,
which
claims
to
own
the
rights
to
the
song
“Hold
on,
I’m
Comin’”
sung
by
Sam
and
Dave.
In
that
case,
the
plaintiffs
allege
that
Trump
lacks
a
performance
license
to
use
the
song
at
rallies
—
typically
a
blanket
authorization
covering
multiple
works.
The
court
preliminarily
enjoined
the
campaign
from
playing
the
work
pending
further
proceedings.
In
contrast,
the
Whites
assert
that
Trump
should
have
negotiated
an
individual
synchronization
license
with
them
directly
—
or
tried
to
anyway
—
since
this
was
not
a
public
performance
but
a
produced
video.
They
claim
significant
damages,
for
the
cost
to
license
the
song,
“direct
and
indirect
financial
contributions
from
the
public
in
response
to
the
Infringing
Trump
Videos,”
and
“sales
of
campaign
and
related
merchandise.”
But
all
is
not
bad
news
for
the
candidate.
The
case
was
assigned
to
Judge
Mary
Vyskocil,
a
Trump
appointee
who
was
highly
receptive
last
year
to
attempts
by
his
congressional
allies
Jim
Jordan
and
James
Comer
to
harass
District
Attorney
Alvin
Bragg
over
the
false
business
records
indictment.
Maybe
Her
Honor
will
be
receptive
to
whatever
transformative/parody/fair
use/reporters
privilege
argument
Trump
and
his
sparklemagic
lawyers
cook
up.
White
v.
Trump
[Docket
via
Court
Listener]
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.