WASHINGTON -- The co-author of the 1980s rock song "Eye of the Tiger" is suing Huckabee for President Inc., alleging copyright infringement, saying the Republican presidential candidate's organization used the song on the campaign trail without permission.
But in court papers filed Monday, Mike Huckabee's campaign said it wasn't illegal to play the music at a September gathering of gay-marriage foes in Grayson, Ky., in part because the rally was a religious assembly and thus exempt from copyright laws that would otherwise apply.
The 11-page reply notes that the former Arkansas governor is an evangelical Christian and a Southern Baptist minister, and says he was simply expressing his "sincerely-held Christian beliefs, protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution" on the day the song was played.
Huckabee for President also denied that the "#ImWithKim Liberty Rally," which was launched by the candidate, organized by the campaign's advance team and promoted by the campaign's communications staff, was part of Huckabee's presidential bid.
Huckabee didn't take any campaign buttons or display any campaign signs during the event, and stuck to nonpartisan Christian themes, the campaign said in its response.
Huckabee has said he attended the rally "along with other politicians and members of the public," but he was the only presidential candidate who was allowed to speak. When U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, arrived, Huckabee staff members physically blocked Cruz from going onstage.
Afterward, Huckabee expressed puzzlement that Cruz had been there, telling Fox News, "It was our event. We were kind of surprised that he showed up."
Federal Election Commission filings show that Huckabee for President spent at least some campaign money while in the Grayson area. The campaign lists a reimbursement of $539.33 for a Holiday Inn Express 15 miles up the road.
But Monday's court filing said the event "was not organized, advertised, or promoted as a Huckabee for President campaign event" and that the organization didn't "knowingly" cause "Eye of the Tiger" to kick in as Huckabee's speech neared its crescendo.
Neither side disputes that the Grammy-winning, Billboard-topping song blared for a minute while Huckabee shared the stage with Kim Davis, the county clerk who was briefly jailed for refusing to allow gays to get marriage licenses.
Millions of Americans watched the scene on television or YouTube, including Frank M. Sullivan III, a founding member of Survivor, the band that popularized the song.
But the two sides disagree about whether the song's use violated federal copyright law.
Sullivan's company, Rude Music Inc., owns the tune and registered it with the copyright office on June 7, 1982.
On Nov. 18, it filed a federal lawsuit in Chicago, alleging that Huckabee for President had damaged the company by using the song without permission.
Rude Music described Huckabee as "sophisticated and knowledgeable concerning the copyright laws, both as a private individual and media-savvy business owner." It notes that Huckabee has written more than a dozen copyrighted works himself.
As a result, the "unauthorized public performance, or inducement of or contribution to the public performance, of the copyrighted work" was a willful infringement on Rude Music's copyright, it alleged.
The company didn't have to start from scratch when it was drafting its complaint. Rude Music filed a similar suit against Newt Gingrich in 2012 after learning that he had played the same song at rallies. The case was eventually settled; the terms were not disclosed.
Federal law generally prohibits people from taking copyrighted music, films and books and rebroadcasting or reproducing them without authorization, though there are exceptions to the rule.
One cited by Huckabee for President allows the "performance of a nondramatic literary or musical work or of a dramatico-musical work of a religious nature, or display of a work, in the course of services at a place of worship or other religious assembly."
The campaign also argues that the "fair use doctrine" applies, saying "the purpose and character of the use was of a non-commercial and religious nature, signifying joy and praise at the release of Mrs. Davis from confinement."
The Kentucky rally drew 4,000 to 5,000 people -- roughly doubling the city's population, said Carter County jailer R.W. Boggs.
"It definitely was a different kind of week," he said.
Told that Huckabee for President was denying that it had organized a campaign event in front of his jail, Boggs said, "I would find that, probably, odd. I would think that was the way it was portrayed on CNN and everywhere else."
Asked about how the rally was paid for and organized, Huckabee spokesman Hogan Gidley said, "We can't comment because of the pending legal case."
A Section on 01/10/2016