Trump’s unauthorized use of Electric Avenue in a 2020 video is infringement. I am glad to see that the fair use test is becoming more stringent since the SCOTUS Warhol decision. In this case, it wasn’t enough to prove that the song was not used for profit to make out fair use. Even though there was no monetization, it transpires from Grant v. Trump that using a song in a campaign video doesn’t automatically amount to transformative use, and is therefore copyright infringement.
https://casetext.com/case/grant-v-trump-17
Great. Now that we know that political videos require a licence, I want to see EVERYONE use the momentum and sue Trump for unauthorized use of their songs.
Signed: cat lady