Overview
- A joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice was filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, formally ending the case.
- Court documents indicate each party will bear its own legal fees and costs, while the settlement terms remain undisclosed.
- The estate’s 2024 complaint alleged at least 133 uses at rallies and in videos and said the president personally selected the track.
- In September 2024, Judge Thomas Thrash granted a preliminary injunction ordering the campaign to stop using the song.
- The campaign argued it had a BMI license and challenged the estate’s ownership claim, assertions the Hayes family disputed as they framed the case as protecting the artist’s legacy in a broader push by musicians to control political uses of their work.