Joe Walsh Vs Joe Walsh
Has the Eagles\' guitarist gone loopy?
Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh is suing a Republican congressional candidate also called Joe Walsh over a copyright infringement.
The US politician allegedly took the song ‘Walk Away’ by Joe Walsh (the musician) and changed the lyrics for a campaign song that he used in Illinois. Walsh (the musician) didn’t appreciate Walsh (the politician) stealing his song.
In a brilliantly worded letter to the politician, the Eagle’s lawyer Peter Paterno gave some advice on US copyright law:
"It says a lot of things, but one of the things it says is that you can't use someone else's song for your political campaign promotion unless you get permission from the owner of the copyright in the song. As far as we can tell you didn't do that. Maybe you got so busy with the campaign that you just forgot. But that's not OK.
"Second, under that same United States Copyright Act, you're not allowed to take someone's song and change the lyrics. This is not to say you're not allowed to write silly lyrics, you just have to write them to your own music. Now, I know why you used Joe's music -- it's undoubtedly because it's a lot better than any music you or your staff could have written. But that's the point. Since Joe writes better songs than you do, the Copryright Act rewards him by letting him decide who gets to use the songs he writes."
"Given that your name is Joe Walsh, I'd think you'd want to be extra careful about using Joe's music in case the public might think that Joe is endorsing your campaign, or, God forbid, is you."
It’s well worth reading the letter, which you can see at the link below:
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