Singer Eddie Grant has won a lawsuit against former US President Donald Trump for using his hit song Electric Avenue without permission.

A federal judge in Manhattan ruled that Trump infringed on the copyrights of the Grammy-nominated singer, after his 2020 presidential election campaign video featured the song.

The judge also ruled that Trump is now liable for damages and must pay the legal fees of the British-Guyanese singer born Edmond Montague Grant.

“The video is best described as a wholesale copying of music to accompany a political campaign ad,” the judge wrote in his order.

Grant, 76, along with Greenheart Music Limited, had filed the US$300,000 lawsuit in 2020, after Trump used the song in a social media video featuring a “Trump” train outrunning a Joe Biden handcar.

Electric Avenue was first released in April 1983 and was part of his 1982 studio album Killer on the Rampage.

The song got to number two on the UK singles chart and was also a major hit in the US – reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as number one in Canada.

The song’s title is named after a street in Brixton, south London, which was the first market street in London to be lit by electricity.