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The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington found a music licensing firm could proceed with its breach of contract claim over use of two songs in videos made by Ted Cruz's presidential campaign. Lepona Inc. v. Cruz for President, C16-0658RSM. Co-defendant Madison McQueen, an ad agency, obtained licensing agreements on the Cruz campaign's behalf from plaintiff Audiosocket for a song by co-plaintiff Sarah Schachner and for one by co-plaintiff Brad Couture. But the agreements prohibited the use of the two songs for “political purposes (including, but not limited to, supporting or opposing any government policy, government official, political action, or candidate for political office).” The defendants nevertheless used each song as the soundtrack for campaign ad videos. Audiosocket doesn't own or have exclusive rights to license the songs, but Madison McQueen and the Cruz campaign argued Audiosocket's contract claim was preempted by the songwriters' copyright infringement claims. Chief District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez noted: “The Ninth Circuit has found in other licensing agreement actions that preemption does not apply.” Chief Judge Martinez concluded on the defendants' motion to dismiss: “Audiosocket seeks to hold Defendants liable for alleged breaches of their Licensing Agreements, specifically the use of the musical compositions for political purposes and cable television ads, both of which were prohibited by the Agreements. ' [T]he Court is not convinced that such claims are preempted by the Copyright Act.”

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