The White Stripes are suing former President Donald Trump over the unauthorised use of ‘Seven Nation Army’ in a social media post.
Both Meg and Jack White are listed as co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which accuses Trump and his presidential campaign of copyright infringement over a video featuring Trump boarding a plane to make campaign stops last month.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Manhattan, the band “vehemently oppose the policies adopted and actions taken by Defendant Trump when he was President and those he has proposed for the second term he seeks” (per Pitchfork).
The post was shared last month by Margo Martin, Trump’s deputy director of communications.
The lawsuit also states that Trump and his campaign “chose to ignore and not respond to Plaintiffs’ pre-litigation efforts to resolve the matters at issue in this action”, and instead have “indiscriminately trampled on Plaintiffs’ legal rights”.
In a post shared to Instagram late yesterday (September 9) Jack White captioned a copy of the legal complaint: “This machine sues fascists.”
According to the introduction, the lawsuit “seeks to redress for a presidential candidate’s flagrant misappropriation of the musical composition and sound recording for ‘Seven Nation Army’”.
It comes after Jack White last month warned the president’s campaign not to use his music. “Oh….Don’t even think about using my music you fascists,” White wrote in a post on Instagram.
“Lawsuit coming from my lawyers about this (to add to your five thousand others.) Have a great day at work today Margo Martin,” he added.
This is far from the first instance in which Trump has faced legal action over unauthorised music use.
Isaac Hayes’ estate is suing Trump for $3million (£2.28m) after allegedly finding over 130 instances where the song was used at his campaign rallies without permission. Last week, a federal judge ruled that Trump and his campaign must stop using Hayes’ song ‘Hold On, I’m Coming’.
Throughout the last year alone, ABBA have demanded Trump stop using their music, and Beyoncé reportedly threatened the former president with legal action for using her song ‘Freedom’ in a social media video.
Celine Dion also said she did not endorse the use of her iconic song ‘My Heart Will Go On’, while Johnny Marr “shut down” his use of The Smiths’ ‘Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want’.
Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, Queen and The Animals have all had similar run-ins with Trump over music usage.
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