Sony Tells Ortega Don’t ‘Stand By Me’ on Song Use in Nicaragua
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Sony Music has ordered Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega to stop using the classic rhythm and blues tune “Stand By Me” in a campaign ad that asks voters to elect the former guerrilla leader to a questioned third term.
The request to pull the advertisement from television and radio under the threat of legal action was made in a letter that Sony/ATV Music Publishing sent to Ortega’s party, the Sandinista National Liberation Front, on Aug. 22. Use of the song, recorded in 1960 by Ben E. King, constitutes a “serious infringement” of Sony’s copyright, the Santa Monica, California-based company said in the cease and desist order, a copy of which was published yesterday by Managua-based newspaper La Prensa.