John McCain Settles Jackson Browne Lawsuit Over Song Use

from the giving-in dept

Last year, during the presidential campaign, singer Jackson Browne sued John McCain for using one of his songs in an ad. There were a few questionable aspects to the lawsuit. First, the ad wasn't actually from the McCain campaign. There were also some questions about whether or not this was fair use since it was ostensibly used for "political speech," but so far the court didn't seem too amenable to that. And so, McCain has settled the lawsuit and publicly apologized to Browne, who claims this wasn't a partisan issue (yeah, right), but about the rights of musicians. This actually would have been an interesting fair use battle, so it's a little disappointing that it's ended, but the argument over "musicians' rights" strikes me as a bit silly, too. McCain could have easily used the same song live at a campaign stop, assuming the venue paid a compulsory performance license. And someone in the McCain camp could have legally covered the song, paying the correct compulsory license as well -- and then potentially used that version in a commercial. Basically, all this really did was highlight how convoluted and often arbitrary copyright laws are in many cases. But, rather than learning a useful lesson on the mess that is today's copyright law, it looks like McCain has taken the easy way out.

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McCain Responds To Jackson Browne Lawsuit: Here's How Fair Use Works...

from the indeed dept

During the presidential campaign, we noted that singer Jackson Browne had sued the McCain campaign for the use of one of his songs in a commercial. The McCain campaign has filed a response to the lawsuit, first noting that it wasn't the McCain campaign that used the song in an ad, but the Republican Party of Ohio. Second, the campaign points out that the use of the song probably qualifies as fair use:

"Given the political, non-commercial, public interest and transformative nature of the use of a long-ago published song, the miniscule amount used and the lack of any effect on the market for the song (other than perhaps to increase sales of the song), these claims are barred by the fair use doctrine."

Of course, between this and the McCain campaign's attempt to get YouTube to apply different fair use rules to presidential campaign videos, it makes you wonder if Senator McCain will actually try to do something in the Senate to improve copyright law to make fair use more explicit and make it clear that it covers these sorts of actions. Somehow I doubt it.

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Jackson Browne Sues McCain For Using His Song In An Ad Without Permission

from the legal-complexities dept

What is it with politicians who position themselves being big pro-copyright supporters being caught potentially infringing on copyright themselves? Singer Jackson Browne, who is apparently a supporter of Senator Obama's presidential campaign, has sued Senator McCain for allegedly using a Browne song in an advertisement without permission. Of course, this isn't as clear cut as you might believe. McCain's campaign points out that the ad isn't actually from the campaign. And, while it's true that there's no compulsory license for pairing a song with a video, this is almost certainly infringement -- but Browne's claim of an implied endorsement may not get very far, because there are ways that it's quite likely that McCain could make use of Browne's song without Browne's permission.

Welcome to the bizarre, arcane, and confusing world of copyright licenses.

Depending on whether or not Browne's music is licensed to a performance rights organization like ASCAP, BMI or SESAC (and chances are, they are), McCain's campaign could most likely pay a royalty to them to use one of Browne's songs at an event (if not in a commercial). And, since there is compulsory licensing on covers of songs, in theory, McCain's campaign could have someone else cover Browne's song at a campaign stop, and Browne wouldn't have much he could do to stop it (again, other than make a stink out of it, getting McCain to back down). While it does seem as though there is an infringement claim here (and McCain's campaign knows it's not wise to turn this into a big deal), this story does highlight just how ridiculous various music licensing has become these days. Though, still, in general you would think that any political campaign (or its surrogates) would at least be a little careful to avoid using music from someone who supports the other guy -- as it's just asking for a PR headache.

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