Playing The Trump Card

Donald Trump is, to put is lightly, a controversial figure, known for his extreme right wing political views and far from subtle criticism of, and disdain for, various minority groups. Well, Donald has done it again. As followers of international news broadcasters like Sky and CNN will be aware, at the recent Republican National Convention, Donald strutted onto the stage to the heroic sounds of Queen's "We Are the Champions". The band was not happy and accused Trump's campaign of using their song without permission. Their discontent is heightened by the fact that they claim that Trump's use of the song implies that Queen endorses or supports his campaign, which it does not.

Trump is not the first politician to use popular music on the campaign trail, but certainly as far as the United States is concerned, this does not necessarily contravene copyright law. The copyright laws of most jurisdictions prohibit the playing of copyrighted sound recording to the public without the permission of the copyright owner, and the United States is no exception. To make things easier it is not even necessary to obtain permission from the band itself, this can be done by purchasing a licence directly from the relevant rights management organisation (in Queen's case, BMI)...