Jackson Browne Files Lawsuit Against McCain

Jackson Browne has filed a lawsuit today against Senator John McCain and the Republican National Committee in the United States District Court in Los Angeles, California.  The lawsuit stems from a recent television commercial for Senator McCain's presidential bid that incorporates the song Running On Empty.

There have been similar lawsuits in the past from artists like John Mellencamp and Abba for unauthorized use. This suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles claims the songs use is a clear infringement of his copyright and will lead people to the conclusion that he somehow endorses McCain.

Browne, a life long avowed liberal " an advocate for social and environmental justice " is noted in the article to have already made prior donations to Senator Obama's campaign and he is clearly upset about the use of the song.

While on it's face this might seem like a politically motivated action by a life time liberal entertainer, it really is much more then that as our interview with Attorney Larry Iser reveals. The ongoing abuse of music and entertainment intellectual property in a post Napster era is an issue that flys under the radar, particularly on the internet where people just assume they can grab a song and use it for their own entertainment and commercial purposes. As you'll hear in the interview, this is part of a long running and consistent pattern of abuse of the copyright laws and the careless attitude of the McCain camp in this instance has caused some of the industry's leading IP lawyers to draw a line in the sand. This is not the last we will hear of this case.

Scott Drake, host of the Legal Broadcast Network daily affairs show, Speaking of Justice, talks with Jackson Browne's attorney...Larry Iser in Santa Monica. California 

The story from the AP