Case Against McCain Over Use of Browne Song Advances

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 24, 2009 - 11:27am.

Los Angeles - Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has lost a bid to have his name removed from a lawsuit filed by songwriter Jackson Browne against him and the Republican National Committee, over their use of Browne's song "Running on Empty" in a presidential campaign ad. U.S. District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner said that, despite McCain's contention that he had no involvement in developing the ad, and had not even seen it before the lawsuit, "once an agency relationship is established, the principal is liable for the acts of her agent, even if the principal does not expressly authorize or instruct her agent to take any action."

Wired.com noted that Judge Klausner also let the lawsuit go forward "to give the defendants a chance to demonstrate how using about 20 seconds of the song in the commercial was a fair use."

Browne's attorney Lawrence Iser lauded the decision to keep McCain as a defendant, and said Browne deserves "freedom from being conscripted as involuntary endorsers of political candidates and campaign messages."

The McCain campaign's outside counsel, Lincoln Bandlow, issued a statement saying it is "disappointed that the Court declined to dismiss Jackson Browne's suit about the Ohio Republican Party's political video, despite the fact that the Court found that Browne's claims arise out of protected speech activity under California's Anti-SLAPP statute and that the evidence was undisputed that Senator McCain 'played no part in the creation or dissemination' of the video."

Judge Klausner set a hearing date for late April to determine a schedule for a potential jury trial.

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ckul3 (Washington Post)

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/02/infringement-ca.html

http://www.scribd.com/doc/12717747/Browne-v-McCain-Complaint