Republicans apologise to Jackson Browne

The long fight between Jackson Browne and the McCain presidential campaign is at an end, with the Republicans writing cheques and issuing apologies:

Singer/songwriter Jackson Browne has resolved his lawsuit against the Ohio Republican Party (“ORP”), the Republican National Committee (“RNC”) and Senator John McCain. The lawsuit arose from a web campaign video produced by the ORP in support of Senator McCain's campaign for President of the United States which incorporated portions of the song Running On Empty, a song written and recorded by Mr. Browne. The lawsuit, filed in August, 2008 in the United States District Court in Los Angeles, alleged that this use of Mr. Browne's song required a license which was not obtained, and that the defendants were liable for copyright infringement, false endorsement under the United States Lanham Act and violation of Mr. Browne’s right of publicity for the use of his voice.

The financial terms of the settlement are confidential.

The ORP, RNC and Senator McCain issued the following statement: "We apologize that a portion of the Jackson Browne song ‘Running On Empty’ was used without permission. Although Senator McCain had no knowledge of, or involvement in, the creation or distribution of the web campaign video, Senator McCain does not support or condone any actions taken by anyone involved in his 2008 presidential election campaign that were inconsistent with artists’ rights or the various legal protections afforded to intellectual property. The ORP, RNC and Senator McCain pledge in future election campaigns to respect and uphold the rights of artists and to obtain permissions and/or licenses for copyrighted works where appropriate."

Fine words, although given that they came in settlement of a lawsuit which McCain and his team had fought, it'd be interesting to find out how the two can be squared.

Still: The Republicans have committed themselves to obtaining permission for music used in election campaigns in the future. That's quite a pledge to make in a legal document, isn't it?

John McCain feels used by Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne's complaints against John McCain using his music during the McCain-Whatwashernamegain campaign have finally drawn a formal legal response from John McCain.

McCain claims that Browne was only making a fuss to draw attention to his new album, and then suggests that he can do whatever he wants with whoever's music he chooses as he was running for President. Who knew after all these years of Republicans happy to extend copyright in any way, shape or direction we'd finally find some sort of fair use that a GOP guy would fight for?

Still, if McCain was smart, he'd have actually countersued Browne on other grounds - after all, stealing his music didn't exactly help the McCain campaign, did it? Perhaps it was the association with Fisty Browne that dragged them down... Browne owes McCain one presidency, right?

How can McCain hope to lead when the GOP don't even know you shouldn't piss off Jackson Browne?

John McCain's people's attempts to mock Barack Obama - and in particular, Obama's claims that proper tyres and regular tune-ups are better for the planet than drilling out more oil - have run into trouble. His team decided to stick Jackson Browne's Running On Empty on the advert.

Yes. Jackson Browne.

Browne first made them pull the ad; now, he's taking legal action. And the McCain campaign are rushing backwards to try and disassociate themselves from the mess:

Robert Bennett, chairman of the Ohio party, said the ad was pulled when Browne objected. He called the lawsuit a "big to-do about nothing."

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers disavowed the ad, saying it wasn't a product of the Republican presidential candidate's campaign.

Just remember that - misuse of copyright material isn't of any interest to the Republicans. Unless, you know, the complaint has made campaign donations to them.

Wives in the balance

Jackson Browne is in a bit of a huff with TBS Superstation, and threatening legal action over their biopic of the life of JFK Jr.

The movie focused on John-John, the only son of a president to have a penis-related nickname until George Bush Snr's boy came to be known almost universally as 'dickhead hair trigger'; presumably because he didn't actually achieve anything much the movie was jazzed up suggesting that Kennedy had to rescue Darryl Hannah from Browne when Browne beat the crap out of her.

This, says Browne, never actually happened. Browne hasn't objected to some of the other strange claims in the film - that JFK Jr was in some way handsome, charming or interesting - but we bet he doesn't like that, either.

Another sign of aging

When we were young, we dreamed of piss-ups in breweries. Now, Jackson Browne in a winery sounds quite an attractive proposition.