my name is Ronald Coleman I represent uh president Trump in the Trump campaign c o l e m NV Jud made a your perspective what the judge well the judge I think was very deliberate very careful very thoughtful he did order a partial injunction with respect to future use of the song which had we had already agreed we would not be making so that we consider to be a a wash we decided not to do that because of the interest of the campaign I'm sorry the interest the campaign doesn't has no interest in annoying or hurting anyone if the Hayes family feels that it hurts or annoys them that's fine we we're not going to we're not going to force the issue uh most important to us that the moment was that the judge in recognition of really important free speech and political speech uh interests acknowledged that it would be an excessively broad use of his injunction power which is prohibited by the federal rules as well as the United States Constitution for him to have issued an order that would have a uh would have resulted in the campaign being forced to take down video videos so we're very gratified about how it came out in well it's certainly conceivable I I think it's just as conceivable that the timing was used as a pressure point as much as being the result of Frank political motivations I everyone I've dealt with on the other side has been a complete gentleman I think it's very important for us to understand that the fair use argument that we that we've been making is based on the way the video appears more or less in the background of the video video I'm sorry with that the song appears in the background of the video we did when alerted to the issue um get a license you got a license because creators are entitled to be compensated for their work we believe in We Believe obviously the campaign believes that Mr Trump Believes In following the law when when the issue was brought to our attention we got a license in terms of fair use though that comes in at the video level the idea that that entire videos that have that music in the background should be taken down that's where the fear use uh argument comes in and i' be happy to to to to give a primer on fair use but I don't think I don't think we up for that today especially we actually have not conceded that we're not clear that the Hayes family does have an ownership right the judge felt that there was enough in the record to at least make a prim AAS of finding that they did have some kind of ownership right it's a little bit murky and the judge acknowledge that it's murky that is something that we're GNA actually be talking about before we left court we we spoke to the um to the Hayes attorneys and and to Mr Hayes III uh about trying to work something out we wanted this to be as Cooperative a process as possible going forward mran can you talk a little bit about the political part of this that you brought up in the the you think that this all came to be because we are so close to the election again I I do think the timing is implicated by the election but there's every reason to believe that that choice was a tactical litigation decision I have no way of knowing I I don't have an impression that Mr Hayes is particularly political but I could be wrong I don't know that matter what do you take back to your Donald Trump you should understand that the northern just of Georgia is a very good court that listens closely that doesn't take sides that calls it as as they see him that's the message we have been meticulous about securing rights through the front door whenever possible so you will not play this song again will you direct Cent we actually already directed our client and one of our submissions that was filed on Friday night stated in an a declaration by the deputy campaign manager that out of consideration for the sentiments of the Hayes family and in order to avoid further litigation on that score we would stop playing it so it's not being used anymore but you're going to keep it on the we're going to keep it on existing videos we're certainly not going to go and add layers of it that would that would not be within the the spirit of the of of the order that's for sure any other questions Ronald Coleman C M an with the Dylan Law Group I I I work with harit Dylan you you know her that's a political question and I'm just a a country lawyer thank you good afternoon thank you all for coming my name is James L Walker Jr I'm the lead counselor for Isaac Hayes and Isaac Hayes estate as well as Isaac Hayes Enterprises I want my client Isaac Hayes III who I'm so proud of today no one has ever stood up to Donald Trump like this my co-counsels Reggie green Reginal green and Mr Griggs we still with this man and he and his family stood up to Donald Trump today and I'm very proud of him very proud of you thank you appreciate it uh we are very uh grateful and happy for the decision by judge drash Donald Trump has been barred from Ever playing the music of Isaac Hayes again um you know I couldn't ask for a better decision I want this to serve as an opportunity for other artists to come forward that don't want their music used by Donald Trump or other political entities um and continue to fight for music artist rights and copyright any questions your reaction to the judge saying that he would not ask that the be Tak that's temporary once we get to trial and we prove that they do not have a license today was a preliminary injunction to stop them from using it any further now we'll go into an evidentiary process my co-counsels will start discovering you can elaborate what happens next in Discovery so today was uh called the preliminary injunction and the purpose was to stop him from any further use the case the underlying case for the infringement is still proceeding forward and we're going to take the steps necessary to ensure our client of victory there was a lot ofers yeah so this has been a four-year process uh initially in 2022 right after the EV day mass shooting at the NRA convention in Houston Donald Trump used uh hold on I'm coming I made a tweet that I was not pleased with that um assisted assist was sent at that point over the next four years uh he continued to use the music um after the rally here in Atlanta um James and I had a conversation said we really got to find a way to stop him from using the music and this is the only means to be able to do that um he was also notified by BMI at a point a 100 days ago to not play uh the song but he continued to play the song multiple times after he was told not to so that's copyright infringement textbook copyright infringement we are the copyright holders um a lot of artists are not often in this position to stand up for their copyrights because publishing companies typically own the rights to uh the music but I always want to make sure that we are able to protect my father's Legacy my father lost the rights to his music um a year before I was born that music started to come back so after 50 60 years the last thing that we were going to do is sell our copyright and we're going to defend and continue to gather more Isaac Hay's copyrights the message to the former president yeah it was it was it's made very clear don't play Isaac ha's music songs anymore one of the things mentioned in today was basically that your father isn't here to speak for himself say whether or not he wants that SED how did you react to hearing that and what do you think your father would say I mean that's not I mean that that's fine law states that um after 56 years of publication the rights of those songs either return to the author or The Heirs which is our family they've returned to our family we have a right to defend and protect our copyright and we did other than that um I've never wanted this song uh to be associated with Donald Trump in the manner that he was using it because it was something that he was repeatedly more than any other song at his rallies he's been playing the song for four years almost um over and over again in rallies um as I've said before my sister are behind me my my father uh uh was a father of uh Seven Daughters I have seven sisters Donald Trump has been found liable of sexual abuse I know my father would not want that man playing his music uh man's been found liable of sexual abuse and some of the things that he says about women especially black women and women of color especially in this election and so we have to take a stand that we want to separate ourselves from someone with Donald Trump's character this is not a political issue this is a character issue um that's been made very clear today and I I want to say something hold on second I want to say something to the brother who asked about the former president if you heard the judge clearly the judge said you need a license and that's a very very telling statement because there are 51 52 plus yeah illegal uses that do not have a license so for a judge this morning to say to Donald Trump and team Trump and some of the other defendants who've now capitulated and said they will get us documents or they will work it out they will pull things down it's a very important point that the judge said you need a license under title 17 they argued fair use they argued political speech they argued a bunch of things I think their theory was we're going to just throw something out there and hope something sticks up against the wall and it's the tactic lawyers use where you throw something out and hope something sticks with the judge to help you get a victim this judge who I applaud understood intellectual property he understood title 17 he understood copyright law and by him understanding everything he was able to tell team Trump you don't have a license you don't have a license so don't use his music anymore period now that gets into us moving this case ahead as attorney green and attorney Griggs know we'll move this case ahead now and start with Discovery depositions and a lot of other things to basically make them pay and the damages are in the millions the damages are in the millions when you talk about this many willful copyright infringing no after after they after that license been terminated by BMI there's no any opportunity to return to use a song and that was told to him over a 100 days ago and he continued to use the song so there's no coming back from using the song that's totally not totally not politically motivated I've been doing these cases for almost 30 years we've gotten probably 250 plus artists out of back contracts and situations like this this is what we do I saw him post something on August 3rd and I called him from Chicago and said do you want us to handle this and he said please step in so from August 3rd to September 3rd he has shut Donald Trump down he and the team of lawyers Ava Liz G sitting back here quietly our copyright administrator Gina Ryan there's a whole team of people Paul Wilson one of my associates Sumer Associates who couldn't be here really did a heat of work a whole lot of work here large am of work and our Howard law students also stepped in so I want to make sure we recognize a body of people who work non-stop for 30 days to get a prary preliminary injunction on Donald Trump that is an unheard of unheard of order by a court it's one of the highest and hardest things you can get a court to award you but this man got it in the beginning correct are you disappointed the judge allow you to play you said on the elevator he played it through yeah he played it exactly where I wanted him to know that Isaac haes was a songwriter and had written amazing records like hold on I'm coming as Soul Man U for artist like Samy David he established himself as a writer so where people think that nobody knows that Isaac Hayes wrote hold and I'm coming that's just simply not true he was inducted into the songwriters Hall of Fame along with David Porter in 2005 so very many people that know and more importantly the people that we do business with that could have effect Donald Trump using our music know who Isaac Hayes is and who the writer of that song is GS you want to take that one Discovery where we going to go so again we have to go through Discovery we have to go through the litigation process and so it's a process we're looking at uh months but I think the message was clear here from the court that you have to follow the law and I think in Georgia it's repeatedly been said that nobody's Above the Law they're not above above copyright law they're not above any law and so I think a message was sent today because Mr Hayes and his family stood up for the rights and Legacy of his father and a message was sent from a federal judge you must stop using these Works without a license that is a powerful and profound statement from a federal judge so we rebut the fact that there's an election coming this is about the law mattering and Mr Hayes uh is a champion of Rights he shown that today by being one of the first to actually have Donald Trump enjoined ordered to stop doing something and so that's historic we're honored to work with him and these lawyers as we will continue in the process but it'll take months ISAC can you talk about for those who don't know what the significance of that song is what does it mean what does it mean to America what does it mean music what does it mean to your family and why would Donald Trump want to use that specific song I mean I don't I don't I don't care about why he wanted to use it I know that my father was you know one of the pillars of stacks as a songwriter before he became an artist he wrote songs that um were the soundtrack of the 60s and the Civil Rights Movement um hold on I'm coming in s man those records were part of that and that's extremely important that is one that song is one of the gems of our catalog um and it's licensed you know plenty of times every year and that was that was the point about this injunction is the fact that I don't want um um that song politicized in any way because it's not about politics but it's also about the character of the person that's using the song and so let the song speak for itself we don't need Donald Trump's help to highlight um a song that is classic and Powerful as holding I'm coming and the judge also said that um you couldn't prove that you were being harmed by Future Brands who wanted to use that song you talk about that a little bit well let me answer that he said we couldn't prove that it was irreparable and imminent he didn't say we couldn't prove it down the line at trial he was saying is it something today and obviously there's still licens in the music so I think the judge's position was hey I know you're hurt but you're still making money you're still licensing the song and we respect that you know we could go back and forth but we understand the judge was trying to be fair and balanced and attorney green pointed out some things you know about the decision of being fair right and the way it works is that today was to stop Donald Trump from unauthorized use of the song and to protect our right to go forward forward to be compensated for the use that's already been done so at the end of the day it's a victory across the board are there any Brands out there who actually use the song that you allow to use it yeah I mean the song gets licensed dozens of times a year so it's it's I couldn't tell you but enormous you know very powerful Brands these are always even when we talk about the the uh the penalty for copyright infringement is $150,000 we get licenses that exceed that sometimes double triple that for this for this song and so um I want to continue to be able to do that this is something I I'll say say all the time that my father lost the rights to his music so the ability for him to actually benefit off his works with something that he never got to do but we have a family here that never really got the opportunity to do that we are his heirs we have the right to continue to uh defend his copyright and benefit of it we are proud of our father's Legacy that he left the Legacy that's so lasting even Beyond his life and is part of black American culture and American culture itself so um you know I'm not worried about uh you know Trump using that song or any you know adding any value to that the other questions well we thank you all for coming out we thank the people watching at home for supporting Isaac Hayes and the family of is and I think all my staff that are here some here some in the office I think everybody this is just the beginning we still have a lot of work to do we have to go through all of these uses and show where there is no license and I want to point out you a video up and someone downloads it now we feel that's another form of infringement just as if you download back in the day something on a CD DVD we want to go through thoroughly all of these uses and figure out where the video went from Donald tront posting it to the internet you know surface of people downloading it and hold him accountable for all of it as willful copyright infringement so we thank judge thr for granting our motion and we all of the people who worked here and all of you who kept this story alive it's very important I want Mr Griggs to talk about just artists and their interests and the rights of artist I actually want to say that myself yes yeah I I think I want other artists to come forward that don't want their music politicized um I know it's something that is standard done by these PR's BMI askat but if you don't want your music used by someone like Donald Trump contact your performing rights organization tell them directly that you do not want Donald Trump using your music and they will remove your your work from his uh ability to do so which is what we have done and then we've taken that step further to Bar him from Ever playing that song again so I hope all the other artists that out there that have been in the news lately that have had a uh an issue with him playing their music take this next step to Bar him from using their music as we wrap up we got to get back to our black jobs we thank all of you but I got another hearing tomorrow so I got to get to our black job thank you thank you thank you guys yes