Reply #10: What opinion was McCain's campaign [View All]

[wtmusic]

expressing by playing the song? At issue is the act of playing that particular song -- the general opinions expressed in the song are for copyright purposes irrelevant. This distinction if often confused or overlooked.

"The issue for the court, to oversimplify only slightly, will be whether use of the music as non-commercial, political speech outweighs the commercial aspects of the misappropriation. Is there really any difference between selling cars or toothpaste and selling a candidate? Is the non-permitted use of copyrighted music at a campaign event any more legitimate than the use of, say, balloons and confetti stolen from a party supply vendor?"

http://memestreamblog.wordpress.com/2008/09/06/mccain-doesnt-rock/