Steven Tyler demands Trump stop playing Aerosmith at rallies

[jberryhill]

7. Numerous letters certainly does sound symbolic

I don't know where "cease and desist order" is coming from. No one's been ordered to do or not to do anything.

Absence of a legal action, and the phrasing of the letter itself, are pretty telling here.

First off, the relevant blanket licenses to use anything in the ASCAP catalog are pretty cheap, and it is likely the organization has one.

What Tyler is claiming here is something other than a copyright claim, because they know they don't have one. They are claiming that the use of the music implies endorsement by the artist - i.e. it is a quasi right-of-publicity claim, not a copyright claim.

I doubt any finder of fact would, in a million years, think that use of the piece in question is understood by the audience to imply endorsement by the artist.

So, they just keep sending letters.