Neil Young Is Now Apparently Suing Donald Trump for Real

The songwriter has posted a lawsuit against the president for unauthorized song use

BY Brock ThiessenPublished Aug 4, 2020

Moving from polite requests to threats to diss tracks, Neil Young appears to be now officially ready to sue Donald Trump over the president's unauthorized use of the songwriter's music.

Today Young took to his Neil Young Archives site to post the lawsuit against the U.S. president, to be filed in the Southern District of New York. As the suit outlines, Trump and his campaign does not have the proper licence to play Young's songs "Rockin' in the Free World" and "Devil's Sidewalk" at rallies. 

Young's lawsuit states: "The Campaign does not now have, and did not at the time of the Tulsa rally, have a license or Plaintiff's permission to play the two Songs ['Rockin' in the Free World' and 'Devil's Sidewalk'] at any public political event."

It adds that Trump's campaign has "willfully ignored [Young] telling it not to play [his music] and willfully proceeded to play his songs despite its lack of a license and despite its knowledge that a license is required to do so."

As a result, Young is seeking "statutory damages in the maximum amount allowed for willful copyright infringement."

However, it's unclear whether the suit has been officially filed. Certain key details are missing from the legal documents, including the specific defendants and Young's actual signature.

As of press time, neither Young nor Trump has confirmed if the lawsuit has been actually filed.

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