Lincoln Bandlow was featured in the Daily Journal article "Will Trump's Political Soundtrack Play On?" Full text can be found in the October 14, 2015, issue, but a synopsis is below.
Donald Trump and Steven Tyler have recently made headlines due to the presidential candidate's use of Aerosmith's song "Dream On," which is raising questions on the amount of protection that blanket licenses provide during political campaigns.
According to Lincoln Bandlow of Fox Rothschild, blanket licenses may be causing a false sense of security.
"The campaign may legitimately think they don't have any concerns because of that blanket license," Bandlow said, "adding that the license won't address Lanham Act and right of publicity claims like the ones LaPolt is making on behalf of Tyler. People are just sort of used to playing music because it sounds good and it gets people fired up and they don't think about rights issues before doing so."
Bandlow said that situations like these, which involve balancing copyright protections with the freedom of speech, are highly fact-specific. He continues by mentioning that campaigns may be realizing at this point how important a sophisticated counsel can be to a presidential candidate's race.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
