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All Eagles Star Wants to Do Is Sue Over Senate Candidate’s Alleged Song Misuse

Posted Apr 20, 2009 1:27 PM CST
By Martha Neil

A California lawmaker is now facing battles on two fronts, as he seeks the Republican nomination in an effort to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) in 2010.

Eagles founder Don Henley is suing Calif. Assemblyman Charles DeVore (R-Irvine) over his claimed infringement of "All She Wants to Do is Dance," which is being used, in an altered version, in campaign material, reports the BBC. However, DeVore contends that his altered lyrics, including the substitution of the word "tax" for "dance," make the song a permissible parody, and says he intends to file a First Amendment counterclaim.

A video prepared on DeVore's behalf had been up on YouTube, but was taken down due to a copyright claim, according to a note posted on the video-sharing site.

DeVore referred to the litigation as "Mr. Henley's liberal goon tactics," according to the news agency.

Henley and guitarist Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers also filed suit against DeVore and a campaign worker in federal court in Los Angeles on Friday over DeVore's alleged infringement of the 1984 hit "The Boys of Summer,"which the two co-authored, according to the Contra Costa Times. It was reportedly used, with altered lyrics, throughout a video posted online in which DeVore attacked Barack Obama.

"Henley and Campbell did not, and would not, authorize the use of their song for this purpose," states the suit. Yet "viewers might also conclude that Henley and Campbell are political supporters of DeVore, which they are not."

The litigation is the latest filing in a series of legal battles over alleged misuse of copyrighted songs by political candidates last year.

Additional coverage:

CNN: "Don Henley sues Senate candidate over song use"

Comments

1.

asdf
Apr 20, 2009 3:03 PM CST

Ouch.  As an IP attorney, the Congressman’s parody defense sounds pretty weak to me.

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2.

B. McLeod
Apr 20, 2009 9:34 PM CST

Ripping off musicians is getting to be a Republican tradition.  McCain screwed with Jackson Browne, and now this would-be congressman is sticking it to the Eagles.

If these guys are dead set on trying to do something clever with music and taxes, there are half a dozen folk songs about the Boston Tea Party that are well out of copyright.  Also (shades of George O’Brien), candidates can always go the route of actually getting musicians to contribute a song willingly.  By stealing music instead, they send the wrong signal.  Voters may well conclude that a candidate who steals one thing will steal anything and everything.

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3.

asdf
Apr 21, 2009 6:33 AM CST

Well, McLeod, I don’t understand Jackson Browne’s case to be the same.  There is a licensing body that musicians can contract with to license their music. I understand McCain’s campaign paid the license fee to use Browne’s music.  It was only afterwards that Browne discovered this had occurred and that he did not like it.  The error there was on Browne - he forgot that when they license to anyone, they mean people Browne may not like as well.

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4.

B. McLeod
Apr 21, 2009 7:14 AM CST

Maybe.  I have not seen a report saying that.

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5.

P. Bryson
Apr 21, 2009 2:46 PM CST

By some of the artist’s logic, I understand that the members of Queen must be a big fan of every professional sports franchise. Why else would “We Will Rock You” get so much airtime?

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