(Politico) YouTube on Thursday restored a Web ad for Mitt Romney featuring audio of President Barack Obama singing a few bars of an Al Green classic, concluding it did not infringe on Green’s copyright to the song.
The 30-second spot attacking Obama for alleged cronyism was removed on Tuesday after BMG Rights Management filed a complaint on behalf of Green, an Obama supporter. Obama riffed on the crooner’s “Let’s Stay Together” at a fundraiser at New York’s Apollo Theater in January when mentioning that Green was in the audience.
The Romney campaign sent YouTube an appeal letter on Wednesday asserting the footage in the ad, titled “Political Payoffs And Middle Class Layoffs,” was fair use under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and not a copyright violation.