Rush (The Band) Wants Off Rush: For Once We Actually Agree With Copyright Lawyers (Updated)

Rush—the Canadian rock group—is pissed at Rush Limbaugh. Rush (the band) realized that the conservative radio host was playing their epic anthems on air and sent Limbaugh's show a cease-and-desist letter demanding their music no longer be used on the air.

Update about Rage Against the Machine below

The Rush Limbaugh Show has been in a lot of hot water since the conservative radio host made offensive comments about Sandra Fluke. Limbaugh's advertisers are pulling out of the show in hoards, and now Rush (the band) wants their music off of the Rush air as well. How wonderfully recursive!

Bob Cesca reports that Rush frequently plays songs by Rush (the band) like "Bravado" and "The Spirit of Radio" on the air, and that in fact, "The Spirit of Radio" was playing behind one of Limbaugh's sexist diatribes against Sandra Fluke. Rush (the band) was understandably upset and their lawyer sent a C&D arguing that The Rush Limbaugh Show is not allowed to use music by Rush (the band).

The use of Rush's music in this way is an infringement of Rush's copyrights and trademarks. The public performance of Rush's music is not licensed for political purposes and any such use is in breach of public performance licenses and constitutes copyright infringement. There are civil and criminal remedies for copyright infringement, including statutory damages and fines.

Usually we get a bad taste in our mouths when we hear that copyright holders are asserting their copyrights in meaningless ways just to skim a few extra dollars for themselves. For bands like lawsuit-loving Metallica, that's just greed. But in this case we're proud of Rush (the band) for standing up for their ideals. If Rush (the band) disagrees with Rush's politics, good for them for using their copyright to make a statement—for once it isn't just an income statement. [Bob Cesca]

Rush (the band) isn't the only artist lashing out at Rush (the host) for using copyrighted music on his political radio show. Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine also expressed his rage (the emotion) this morning on Twitter.
