A Seattle-based music licensing company claims that Ted Cruz and his campaign team stole their music when the former GOP presidential candidate was still part of the 2016 presidential race. The music was reportedly used for the advertisements made by the campaign team for the candidate.
In a report by King 5, the company called Audiosocket filed the complaint in the United States District Court in Seattle on Monday. They are seeking damages against the Cruz campaign and the advertising firm. The complaint alleges that the campaign used two songs, one for television and the other for online advertisements. The ads were pinpointed as those that were entitled "Victories" and "Best to Come."
Accordingly, the Cruz campaign did not ask for permission. The songs were identified as "Lens" by Sarah Schachner and "Fear of Complacency" by Brad Couture, Examiner reported.
Audiosocket's CEO, Brent McCrossen, said in a statement that he believes the campaign team committed intellectual property theft. He added that they want to protect "protect copyrights and make sure artists are fairly compensated." McCrossen added that they are seeking $2 million in damages but they want to stop the infringement first.
The advertising firm that was mentioned as a defendant is Madison McQueen. The firm is being sued for copyright infringement and breach of license of agreement, Geekwire reported. Madison McQueen did sign a deal with Audiosocket but they claim that they were never told the songs will be used in political advertisements. Accordingly, the contracts the parties involved signed stated that the music under Audiosocket could not be used for political commercials.
McCrossen also claimed that Madison McQueen and the Cruz campaign team did realize that the music should not have been put on TV as they called to ask for permission. However, Audiosocket said they are not allowed to do that but the ads were still aired and posted online.
Cruz has suspended his bid for the White House last week after losing Indiana against Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee.
Cruz and his team are yet to comment on the lawsuit.
