KWIKA represents renowned singer/songwriter Jackson Browne in a suit alleging that former Republican candidate for President John McCain, the Republican National Committee and the Ohio Republican Party infringed Mr. Browne’s copyright and trademark rights and violated Mr. Browne’s right of publicity by including Mr. Browne’s famous recording “Running On Empty” in a campaign commercial.  One of the rules governing the KWIKA Entertainment Law blog is that we’re not going to express opinions regarding our own cases.  However, we are receiving many requests for information and updates.  It therefore makes sense to provide status reports here on our Blog.

 

Here’s the current status:

 

The United States District Court for the Central District of California has denied the motions of Senator John McCain and the Republican National Committee to dismiss Mr. Browne’s lawsuit.  Mr. Browne filed suit in August, 2008 for copyright infringement, false endorsement under the Lanham Act, and violation of Browne’s right of publicity.  In a series of rulings on February 20, 2009, the Hon. R. Gary Klausner, United States District Judge, rejected the defendants’ arguments that the First Amendment or copyright’s fair use doctrine immunizes their unauthorized use of Mr. Browne’s voice and song simply because such use occurred in the context of a political campaign commercial.  Among the rulings, the Court denied the defendants’ special “anti-SLAPP” motion to strike (inaccurately dubbed a “countersuit” in some news reports) with respect to Mr. Browne’s right of publicity claim.  In another ruling, the Court dismissed the Ohio Republican Party from the case on jurisdictional grounds, leaving Mr. Browne free to pursue his claims against it in Ohio.

 

Defendants’ motions to dismiss argued that the unauthorized use of Mr. Browne’s copyrighted musical composition “Running On Empty” is protected by the Fair Use Doctrine and that the United States Lanham Act, which governs Jackson Browne’s claims for false endorsement, does not apply to politicians and political parties.  You can read the Court’s Orders denying these motions here and here.

 

Defendants’ also filed special “anti-SLAPP” motions to strike Jackson Browne’s claims for violation of his right of publicity.  You can read the Court’s Orders denying these motions here and here.

 

The Ohio Republican Party filed a motion to dismiss which challenged the District Court’s jurisdiction.  You can read the Court’s Order granting this motion here.

 

Finally, the Court has set a Scheduling Conference for late April.  It is expected that the Court will set a trial date at this Conference.