Henley v. DeVore

[Fan_For_Life]

Apparently this happened back in April. Didn't see where it was posted. Very short article.

Don Henley sues Republican over use of songs in campaign
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2...can-songs.html

[Prettymaid]

I suppose Don has someone who keeps an eye on youtube for these kinds of things. Surely he doesn't do it himself! And since he hates youtube I'm surprised he isn't quick to pull everything of his!

[sodascouts]

Yeah, I spotted this on Google alerts a while back but wasn't sure if I should post about it or not. However, it's become visible enough that it's no longer necessary, I think, to try and downplay it by not mentioning it.

Henley is notoriously quick to threaten legal action, but rarely sues.... rarely needs to, frankly. Most people back off because they don't want to risk a financially devastating lawsuit. His litigous tendencies are strange for a guy who sings so passionately a version of Shakespeare's line about killing all the lawyers, eh? But I am sure he believes all of his legal threats are driven by righteousness and thus perfectly appropriate.

Last I heard, the judge deciding the case (Selna) was in deliberations over whether or not she should dismiss the case, or at least certain aspects of the case which Devore's lawyers call "clutter," items which they claim obscure the heart of the issue.

The heart of the issue: Devore sang his criticism of Obama to a kareoke track of Boys of Summer, and his criticism of his political opponent Barbara Boxer to the tune of All She Wants to Do is Dance. These were videos used to express his political beliefs, allegedly in the hopes of attracting new voters. Devore argues that his actions were parody regardless of whether or not they forwarded his campaign, and therefore they are protected under free speech. Henley argues they are not legally protected parody in the sense that they do not parody him specifically, and therefore they violate copyright.

Also, because Devore conceivably garnered campaign contributions as a result of the videos, Henley argues that they can be classified as a commercial venture which negates any free speech claim. Devore says that because the videos do not overtly solicit donations, nor is it provable that any donations resulted from the videos, that they cannot be classified as such.

An additional complication is that one of the songs - All She Wants to Do Is Dance - is not copyrighted to Henley but rather to writer Danny Kortchmar. Henley argues the fact that it is not copyrighted to him is unimportant because it is so strongly associated with him. He uses a "false endorsement" law to cover that base rather than copyright law because he claims people will now believe he endorses Devore. Devore argues this claim is illegitimate since Henley's political leanings are well-known among the general public. He also argues that even if his views were not well-known, the public is accustomed to covers and parody and understands that they they do not imply endorsement from the person they are copyrighted to, much less associated with.

To defend himself against the copyright violation charges, Devore argues that the songs do indeed parody Henley implicitly by the very act of using those particular Henley songs. He claims they are mocking Henley's well-known liberal political orientation as evinced in the songs used. They say both Boys of Summer and All She Wants to Do Is Dance contain political statements and therefore using their tunes is legimate parody of Henley's personal political leanings as demonstrated by those statements, even though their lyrics do not specifically address the same policies Henley criticized but rather Obama's alleged broken promises and Boxer's alleged propensity towards raising taxes.

If anyone feels I have incorrectly summarized this, feel free to correct me. I have examined the documents closely but I am summarizing them from memory right now, which can always be tricky.

The latest on the case:
http://www.dailypilot.com/articles/2...revshenley.txt

For more detail, see copies of Devore's motion to dismiss "clutter" and Henley's response, respectively:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/15702449/D...ion-to-Dismiss

http://www.scribd.com/doc/16538606/O...enley-v-DeVore

[TimothyBFan]

Seriously, where is anyone putting stuff on YouTube really hurting any of these artists, unless I'm missing something.

I'm also with Soda, for a man that has a line in a song that simply says, "let's kill all the lawyers, kill them tonight", he sure seems to use enough of them, in the case of YouTube videos often against the people who love and respect him and his music the most.

It must be nice to be so rich and famous that you just think you can use your money and power this way. Doesn't Don have better use of his money? Does he not remember that a lot of this money is coming from the same people putting videos on YouTube? I know many of you won't agree with me, but it just seems he is always on a "power trip" about one thing or another and has a tendency of bullying people into doing it his way.

[EagleLady]

Well He is entitled to his opinion like it or not. He may come across as harsh, but I think he makes an excellent point.

[Prettymaid]

Seriously, where is anyone putting stuff on YouTube really hurting any of these artists, unless I'm missing something.

Well... I admit that I convert youtube audio and video and download it to my ipod for free, so for all of us who do that, those artists are not making any money.

ETA: I usually only do this if I cannot find it on Itunes!

[Miss Ghost]

The Devore lawsuit is not about him putting the videos on youtube, he doesn't sue all fans who put up videos, just has YouTube take them down.

[Miss Ghost]

Also no offense but you are unfair, Don has never sued a fan, Devore is not his fan so it's OK to sue him. He loves his fans, he would never sue them, He just doesn't like youtube videos.

[Prettymaid]

Miss Ghost, true to your name you seem to have appeared out of thin air! Welcome back!

[TimothyBFan]

Don't get me wrong you guys--I'm not picking only on Don here. I feel strongly about this issue also when people like Metallica are filing lawsuits and such to about illegal downloads. I would wager a bet that most people that are downloading like that are also paying MEGA amounts of money to see them in concert, buy t'shirts and usually cd's and albums even tho they are downloading also, etc...

As far as Don, I guess I am somewhat frustrated not only because of this but the whole sit/stand policy, the picture policy, etc... it just seems to go on and on. I have no clue how much money in the 34 years I've been a fan of the Eagles I have put out, and I'm sure it's nothing compared to what some others have spent and it probably is small change to any of the Eagles but these are the fans that have made you what you are today and it just seems that when you are taking down their videos etc... you might consider that you may be doing more harm than good when you are shutting them down, or putting flyers on chairs at concerts instructing them not to stand at a rock concert. I know I will seriously think twice about spending that kind of money again.