The 1978 disco anthem was used both at rallies and as the soundtrack to a campaign video ahead of Tuesday's US presidential election.

The rights holders, including Scorpio Music "have discovered with amazement this misappropriation, moreover for partisan and electoral purposes for the benefit of Donald Trump, which they would never have accepted," said lawyer Richard Malka,

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The unauthorized use of the song will "be the subject of a complaint in the next few days, both in France and in the United States, against any initiator or accomplice of what constitutes outright theft of the property of others ", he said.

Read also: Gay anthem 'Y.M.C.A' dances into history at leading US library

The YMCA song was penned by French writers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo and Village People lead singer Victor Willis. 

The Village People had hits on both sides of the Atlantic with "YMCA" as well as "In the Navy" and "Macho Man" in the late 1970s.

They became standard bearers for the gay community.

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