MGMT has threatened to sue French president Nicolas Sarkozy, reports Agence France Press. No, that last line was not the by-product of some serious hallucinogen -- although the song at the centre of the matter may have been.

According to multiple reports, Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) Party has used the psychedelic indie-rockers' song "Kids" for various official purposes -- including party videos, the UMP website and major public functions. And while the UMP may have decent taste in music, MGMT are claiming the party never asked for their permission to use the track.

"We are dealing with acts of counterfeiting, an infringement of intellectual property," the band's French lawyer told AFP.

MGMT's lawyer told AFP that the party has apologized, and "offered the band one euro (1.25 dollars) in symbolic damages for copyright infringement" -- an offer the band reportedly found "insulting." (Tie-dyed capes and flourescent way-farers don't buy themselves, you know.)

MGMT's lawyer says the band will sue if their demands for compensation aren't met.

The party's secretary general, Xavier Bertrand, has since responded in a statement and has promised that MGMT will get a payday -- however belated.

"Compensation has to be expected," he told the Guardian. "And we are presently looking at whether the band was fairly compensated. The UMP is very respectful of copyright."

Ah, the irony is as thick as the smoke clouds during an MGMT encore. It seems the party is two weeks away from presenting an anti-filesharing bill to the French national assembly -- and MGMT won't balk at rubbing it in.

"It seems that those who led the charge against internet users are not the most respectful of copyright," MGMT's lawyer told AFP.

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