February 26, 2009 12:43
MGMT suing Nicolas Sarkozy over 'Kids'
Band claim the French President used the song without permission
Photo Gallery: MGMT
MGMT are suing French President Nicolas Sarkozy – accusing him of using their hit 'Kids' on online videos without permission.
Sarkozy has admitted using the song at the UMP party's national congress, but claims the lack of permission was a mistake and offered the band one euro as a gesture, reports BBC News.
The duo rejected the offer and are now seeking compensation. Their lawyer, Isabelle Wekstein, said, "This offer is disrespectful of the rights of artists and authors. It is insulting. We are dealing with acts of counterfeiting, an infringement of intellectual property."
A fee of 53 Euros (£47) had initially been paid to gain use of the song, but Wekstein said that the sum was not enough to cover repeated plays of the song in the online videos.
MGMT won the Best New Band and Best Track
(for 'Time To Pretend') prizes at the Shockwaves NME Awards last night (February 25).
Visit NME Video for the latest music videos and artist interviews
- Previous: Muse's Matt Bellamy 'I'm too short to be Shockwaves NME Awards' Sexiest Male'
- Next: The Killers 'We'll celebrate Shockwaves NME Awards win with Elvis'
You may need to upgrade your Flash Player
You can download the latest flash plugin here.
If you have installed flash but keep getting this message:
1. Try to bypass flash plugin detection here.
2. Ensure you have javascript enabled in your browser.
3. Try using Firefox
Listen to more Free Music at we7.com
Comments do not always reflect the views of NME, or IPC Media, for guidelines visit our Ts & Cs page