Wednesday, May 26, 2010

.

Unfair use

Yet another politician has used a pop song in an ad without permission, and is being sued for it:

The singer and former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne has sued Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, saying he used the Talking Heads’ song “Road to Nowhere” in a Senate campaign ad without permission.

The song was used in an online video posted in January that attacked Marco Rubio, a fellow Republican who is one of Mr. Crist’s opponents for the seat vacated by Senator Mel Martinez. The governor is now running as an independent.

Haven’t these people figured this out by now? This isn’t the first time, nor the second nor third, that this has happened. It’s not the sort of thing that’s covered by “fair use” principles.

Do they, perhaps, think that they can get away with it because they’re politicians? Politicians seem to think they can get away with nearly anything, so maybe that’s it.

No comments: