Everyone wants to heaven but nobody wants to die is the name of Jason "Timbuktu" Diakité's song and album from 2005. During the 2018 election campaign, the Swedish Democrats in Stockholm city used the phrase "Everyone wants to heaven but nobody wants to die in the care queue" on posters at their polling stations as a part of their political campaign.
In November 2018, Timbuktu and Universal music publishing announced that they were suing the Swedish Democrats for deliberately infringing Timbuktus copyright.
“Jason is the originator of the song and it is located on Universal music publishing. It is copyrighted and SD has used it without obtaining the necessary permission, "writes Martin Ingeström, CEO of Universal music publishing to Kulturnyheterna.
The artist's lawyers say that Timbuktu is a well-known opponent of SD and that the use of the text was "with full knowledge of the strong connection that exists between Jason Diakité and the song".
"No working height"The Swedish Democrats' lawyer, for his part, believes that the phrase is not original enough to achieve stature and should therefore not be subject to copyright. SD also points out that the phrase, or similar phrases, was used by a number of other artists such as Joakim Thåström, Ewa Roos, Albert King and Loretta Lynn.
- One question that the district court must be violated is whether brief phrases of a general nature can be protected by copyright at all. Another question is if it's about copyright, is it really Jason who has it? The phrase is featured in many songs, says the Swedish Democrats' lawyer Niclas Karlsson.
The main hearing begins in Stockholm District Court on Wednesday.