An Intellectual Property suit that shouldn't have happened.

[G-Artist]

Below is the gist of the suit.

Florida Governor, Charlie Crist, is not only a lawyer by profession but he was
also Florida's Attorney General (chief law enforcement officer) immediately before
he became governor so you would think someone with those credentials would
know better.

-------------


MIAMI (AP) -- Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is being sued for $1 million for using a Talking Heads song in a campaign ad
without the band's permission.

The band's ex-lead singer David Byrne sued the governor Monday in Tampa for using "Road to Nowhere"
in an online attack ad against Marco Rubio. He's the likely Republican nominee in the race for Florida's
open U.S. Senate seat. Crist is running as an independent.

Crist's campaign spokeswoman didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

Byrne said in a statement his fans might not respect him as much if he lets his songs be used in ads.

In a related story: Sen. John McCain was sued for using Jackson Browne's song "Running on Empty" during his presidential campaign. The lawsuit was settled and included a pledge by the GOP not to use any musicians' work without permission.

Geez, even the lawmakers can't get it right.

 

[Fred Weiss]

Geez, even the lawmakers can't get it right.

That's mostly because these lawmakers do not consider themselves to be subject to the same laws they impose on the rest of us.

 

[jiarby]

I doubt that someone at his level is making decisions about what song they use. Campaign staff & handlers do all that kind of stuff. He probably didn't have any idea. It was probably some 23yp staffer with an iPod full of torrented MP3's that did it...

 

[WrapperX]

I doubt that someone at his level is making decisions about what song they use. Campaign staff & handlers do all that kind of stuff. He probably didn't have any idea. It was probably some 23yp staffer with an iPod full of torrented MP3's that did it...

 

[Gino]

This is probably gonna get moved to another section.................

Anyway... shoot the frickin' bum and then make him apologize publicly.

 

[Slamdunkpro]

Below is the gist of the suit.

Florida Governor, Charlie Crist, is not only a lawyer by profession but he was
also Florida's Attorney General (chief law enforcement officer) immediately before
he became governor so you would think someone with those credentials would
know better.

....

Geez, even the lawmakers can't get it right.

It's not quite that simple. There is an agency (Harry Fox Agency - THFA) that pretty much handles all 3rd party music licensing requests for registered artists via ASCAP / BMI/ and SESAC (all of them more or less). If you want to use a song in an ad, part of a compilation CD, Soundtrack, etc. you contact THFA, they see if the song is in the catalog, and if it is, they give you a price based on the requested usage. For the most part the artist isn't involved other than to set the initial parameters. What happened to McCain is that some staffer went to THFA and licensed music from Heart and Jackson Brown, paid the agency fee and they put it in their ads. The Wilson sisters (Heart) and Jackson Brown are big libs and democrats and they flipped out when their music was being used by an eeeevil (muhaha) republican , so they sued based on a convoluted usage issue even though McCain's campaign acquired the rights legally.

 

[dwt]

so they sued based on a convoluted usage issue even though McCain's campaign acquired the rights legally.

Any idea how this case ended?

 

[Slamdunkpro]

Any idea how this case ended?

The McCain campaign agreed out of court to discontinue usage.

 

[dwt]

Crazy. How car an artist allow music to be brokered by a third party and then sue the end user who paid to use it legally?

If they don't want it used that way shouldn't that fall at the feet of the third party broker who sold/managed the rights in the first place?

 

[Mikeifg]

The talking heads need the money.

 

[Slamdunkpro]

Crazy. How car an artist allow music to be brokered by a third party and then sue the end user who paid to use it legally?

If they don't want it used that way shouldn't that fall at the feet of the third party broker who sold/managed the rights in the first place?

America! Land of the lawsuit!

IIRC Heart & Jackson Brown's contention was that political ads were outside the scope of what they understood to be ads or some such crap. I think Heart did pull their catalog from THFA, not sure about Brown.

 

[G-Artist]

W/o going into the history of it all, Florida (and several other states) adopted a law that
says the candidate has to approve the entire message.

That is why on radio and TV commercials you will not only see that as text but hear the candidate
speak it as well.

So, even if a campaign staffer or ad agency was the entity responsible for inserting a third-party
sound or graphic they had not bought and paid for or acquired a license to - ultimately, it is
the candidate and the candidate alone who is fully responsible as she to he has to sign off on it.

I am pretty sure that the Feds have similar laws. It has been a while since I visited that area.