http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090826/NEWS03/908260398/1017/NEWS/%20Rocky%20Top%20%20clip%20puts%20network%20A&E%20in%20court
Television network A&E got in legal trouble after using the song "Rocky Top", which is the fight song for University of Tennessee, after they were repeatedly denied permission to use it. There was an episode of the show "City Confidential", which was detailing a murder that happened in Knoxville, Tennessee. Due to the nature of the show, the owners of the "Rocky Top" fight song denied it's use in the series, but A&E used a 12 second clip of it during the final cut of the show. It is a common misconception that the "Rocky Top" UT fight song is in the public domain, but it is actually owned by the children of the couple who originally penned it in 1967. A&E representatives argued that it was fair use, but the owners stated that it is copyrighted intellectual property, and by letting this relatively small incidence go, they risk being taken advantage of by other people looking to use the theme song without paying.
In the end, fair use would probably not fly for this case, because of the nature of the use. Since it was used on a commercial television program, that is making profit for the television network, it will probably be ruled in favor of the copyright holders.
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