A lawyer for Guyanese international artist Eddy Grant has sent a cease and desist letter to United States President Donald Trump’s campaign demanding that it stop using the singer’s 1983 hit Electric Avenue.
President Trump’s campaign team has used Grant’s song in a video criticising Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden.
In an August 13th 2020 letter to Trump’s campaign office, which has been seen by this newspaper, attorney-at-law Wallace Collins demanded that Trump immediately “Cease and desist any further use or exploitation” of the song and to hold any monies arising out of or related to his campaign and attributable to the infringing use of the song until the matter is fully and fairly resolved.
Collins noted that he and his client prefer to resolve the dispute expeditiously in order to avoid costly and time-consuming litigation and the negative publicity that can surround unauthorised use of such an “iconic musical composition (especially where the use indicates a fundamental misunderstanding of the very meaning of the underlying work)”.
The lawyer further informed that Grant fully intends to pursue all available legal remedies if they cannot come to a satisfactory resolution of the matter.
The lawyer argued that by the unauthorised usage of the song, Trump has willfully infringed the work under the United States copyright law, and should be held liable for statutory damages.
The letter noted that Grant is the sole and exclusive rightful copyright owner of the song and his copyright registration constitutes prima facie evidence of the validity of his copyright and exclusive ownership of the song.
“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). My client has always had a reputation of standing for truth and justice for all, which will be seriously undermined by any affiliation with the name ‘Trump’ in this political context. Such damage will also extend to the value of my client’s musical catalog,” Collins said in the letter.
“I can understand the flagrant abuse of my rights being attributed to the worst Third World nation in the world, wherever that can be found; one that does not preach democracy on every available occasion, but I fail to understand however, that such an organisation dedicated to the promotion of the President of the United States, could so seriously abuse my rights as an artist, composer, arranger, producer and ultimately, the owner of these abused rights”, Grant said in a press release.
