DERKI NS COle $302125] Avenue 0 +1.206.359.8000 +1.206.359.9000 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 PerkinsCoie.com February 26, 2020 Patchen M. Haggerty PHaggerty@perkinscoie.com D. +1.206.359.8614 F. +1.206.359.9614 VIA FEDERAL EXPRESS Chad Banghart, Executive Director The Committee to Defend the President 441 North Lee Street, Suite 205 Alexandria VA 22314 Re: Copyright Infringement and Unauthorized Use of Name, Image and Voice of President Barack Obama Our Ref. 124003-0016 Dear Mr. Banghart: This ?rm represents the of the intellectual property and rights of publicity of President Barack Obama. We write regarding an advertisement for the Committee to Defend the President entitled ?Enough Empty Promises,? which aired during the Democratic Party presidential debate on February 25, 2020. If you are represented by counsel, please forward this letter to your counsel for response. The ad begins with the narrator stating ?Joe Biden promised to help our community. It was a lie. Here is President Obama?. The ad then displays President Obama?s image side-by-side with an image of Joe Biden, and proceeds to play the following passage from President Obama?s audiobook entitled Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance: ?Plantation politics. Black people in the worst jobs, the worst housing, police brutality rampant. But when the so-called black committeemen came around election time, we?d all line up and vote the straight Democratic ticket, sell our souls for a Christmas turkey.? Screen captures of the wording displayed on the screen while the passage from President Obama?s audiobook is played are as follows: 7 1! rtlu 1 SEGR ATTUNISTS l?hlqiu J0l - d? 50E 0, 3 BILL THAT 0 PRUPORTIONATELY BLA A ERIBAN PARENTS JATLED AFRICAN A ERICANS FUR a. a H. President Obama wrote the book Dreams ?om My Father in 1995 about his time as a community organizer in Chicago, and the audiobook was released in 2005. Though the ?Enough Empty Promises? ad frames the passage used in the ad as a recent statement made by President Obama Perkins Coie LLP The Committee to Defend the President February 26, 2020 Page 2 (prefaced in the ad by the statement ?Here?s President Obama?), the passage was written more than 20 years ago and recounted a conversation with, and statements made by, a barber he called Smitty relating to Smitty views on Chicago politics leading up to the election of Chicago? 5 ?rst black mayor, Harold Washington. Thus, this unauthorized use of President Obama name, image, likeness, voice and book passage is clearly intended to mislead the target audience of the ad into believing that the passage from the audiobook IS a statement that was made by President Obama during his presidency, when it was in fact a statement made by a barber 1n a completely different context more than 20 years ago. Accordingly, your unauthorized and misleading use of President Obama? 5 name, image, likeness, voice and book passage for advertising purposes constitutes a misappropriation and violation of President Obama? right of publicity recognized under the laws of Virginia and Washington DC, as well as a violation of the US. Copyright Act and the right of privacy and/or publicity recognized under the laws and statutes of many other states. We trust that you understand that our client must protect its rights and prevent the unauthorized and misleading use of President Obama?s name, image, likeness, voice and other intellectual property. To this end, the Committee to Defend the President must immediately remove this ad from its Facebook page and any other social media platform or website, and must refrain from airing this ad in any form or medium in the future. Further, the Committee to Defend the President must agree on behalf of itself and all af?liated entities to refrain from future misuse of President Obama? 5 intellectual property or right of publicity. We look forward to receiving your written assurance of compliance within ?ve (5) days of the date of this letter. This communication is for settlement purposes only, and is without limitation to the rights or remedies of our client. Sincerely, PERKINS COIE LLP at, 4?2 Why Patchen Haggerty Perkins Coie LLP