Huckabee: no copyright infringement at ‘religious assembly’ in support of Kim Davis
Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee has claimed that the use of the song “Eye of the Tiger” at a rally he attended to support Kentucky-based marriage clerk Kim Davis did not infringe copyright because it was used at a “religious assembly”.
In a court filing on January 4, Huckabee said that US copyright law “provides in part that the performance of a nondramatic literary or musical work in the course of services at a place of worship ‘or other religious assembly’ is not an infringement of copyright”.
Frank Sullivan, former member of the band Survivor and co-author of the 1982 hit, sued Huckabee for copyright infringement at the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois last year.
The lawsuit was sparked by an event Huckabee attended in September last year called “We Stand with God Pro Family Rally”. During the event, held in Kentucky, both Huckabee and Davis entered the stage to the opening bars of the song.
Davis hit the headlines last year after she refused to sign marriage certificates for same-sex couples. Her refusal followed the US Supreme Court’s June decision in Obergefell v Hodges, which found that state laws banning same-sex marriages were unconstitutional.
Huckabee defended the use of the song, stating that it was protected under the fair use doctrine and that the event was a “religious assembly”.
Huckabee added that only a small portion of the track was used and that he did not profit commercially from the use of the song.
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