The rock band Rush has sent Kentucky Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul a distant early warning: stop using our music.
Paul, who has quickly stepped into the limelight, used the Rush song “Tom Sawyer” in a Web video, and his campaign has also played “The Spirit of Radio” at a rally. In a far cry from the conservative Paul’s discussion of protecting private property rights, his campaign actually used the libertarian-minded band’s intellectual property without permission, attracting a letter from the band’s lawyer for his attempt to get something for nothing.
The Web video using “Tom Sawyer” has already had its audio track disabled, after a complaint by Rush’s attorney Robert Farmer. “This is not a political issue — this is a copyright issue,” Farmer told the Louisville Courier-Journal. “We would do this no matter who it is.” Farmer also pointed out that Rush are not Americans — they are Canadians, so the squabbles of American politics are not particularly closer to the heart for them.
