Newt Gingrich Sued Copyright Infringement "Eye of the Tiger"

Newt Gingrich's campaign makes the news twice in a week for claims of copyright infringement of a song.   Rude Music Inc., owned by Frank Sullivan, a co-author of the song "Eye of the Tiger," filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in federal district court in Chicago for Gingrich's use of the song on the campaign trail. As discussed last week, so long as Gingrich's campaign secured the necessary public performance licenses, any song may be played at a campaign event without permission from Rude Music, Frank Sullivan or Rocky Balboa.

Rude Music complaint's does raise an interesting point regarding videos of campaign events where "Eye of the Tiger" can be heard.  There may be a blush of a valid claim for copyright infringement related to these videos.  Reproduction and distribution of the video footage looks a lot less like a "public performance" and more like a synchronization of the song to the other visual images in the footage.

Volcano Records (parent company is Sony), the copyright owner of the underlying sound recording, is not a party to the lawsuit.

Happy reading:  Jump to the complaint.

Tamera H. Bennett

Tamera H. Bennett is a wife, mom, lawyer, mediator, blogger, podcaster, and legal writer. For two decades she’s helped clients protect what they create by practicing trademark, copyright and entertainment law in Texas and Tennessee.

Tamera has co-hosted more than 85 episodes of the Entertainment Law Update Podcast since 2009. And, she’s been honored to write for BILLBOARD magazine and the TEXAS LAWYER.

In the summer of 2015, Tamera backpacked 100 miles over 10 days with her son's Boy Scout Troop. Tamera walked her first half-marathon in 2012 and walked the Cowtown Half Marathon in February 2016 and February 2017 with a PR each time. You can visit Tamera’s blog at createprotect.com and follow her on Twitter @tamerabennett.

http://www.tbennettlaw.com
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