Don Henley and Tom Petty in Federal battle against song parody

Don Henley and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell are up in arms over California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore's parody of "The Boys Of Summer" and filed a lawsuit in federal court on April 17th. Pollstar.com reported that DeVore, a Republican, who is running for the senate seat currently held by Sen. Barbara Boxer has rewritten the lyrics of the tune which was cowritten by Henley and Campbell in 1984.

DeVore performed the parody, which is renamed "Hope Of November" along campaign worker Justin Hart -- who is also named in the songwriters' suit -- in a You Tube video. Henley and Campbell's complaint stated in part: "DeVore and Hart copied almost all of Henley and Campbell's copyrighted musical composition note for note and used a recorded performance of the song as background to their parody lyrics."

Henley then requested the video be taken off You Tube in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and the video was initially taken down. After DeVore and Hart asked You Tube to repost the parody, Henley was informed by You Tube that he was powerless to stop the airing of the clip unless he "pursued legal action against the assemblyman."

A spokesperson for Henley and Campbell said of the complaint: "Don Henley and Mike Campbell brought this action to protect their song, 'The Boys Of Summer,' which was taken and used without their permission. Because the infringers have vowed to continue exploiting this and other copyrighted works, as it suits them, to further their own ambitions and agenda, it was necessary to file a lawsuit to stop them."

DeVore slammed Henley on his blog stating: "That Henley has contributed some $750,000 to Democrats and liberal causes over the years, including $10,000 to Barack Obama and $9,000 to Sen. Barbara Boxer, adds authenticity to the political nature of my ditties. As the L.A. Daily News reported. . . 'Henley, a longtime vocal supporter of Democratic causes, has drawn boos from fans in Orange County over the years for making political comments between songs during concerts.' Indeed. Henley's lawsuit shows he's good at dishing it out, but not so good at taking it."

He closed by saying, "Bottom line, we are responding to the Henley/Campbell lawsuit and expect to prevail. If an elected official running for the U.S. Senate is not allowed to fearlessly engage in parody, then the First Amendment means little."