Joe Walsh v Joe Walsh (Confused? Good)

The Copyright 1709 blog reports on the spat between the lawyer for Joe Walsh of the band Eagles and Joe Walsh, the Republican Congressional candidate for Illinois.

Walsh the politician has been using the song "Walk Away" by Walsh the musician in his election campaign - but with changed lyrics.

Billboard magazine reports on the letter written by the lawyer for Walsh the musician, Peter Paterno, to Walsh the politician:

The letter begins by schooling politician Joe Walsh that it "might be beneficial" for him to learn a thing or two about the United States Copyright Act: "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 Copyright Act rewards him by letting him decide who gets to use the songs he writes."

Then the letter gets pretty interesting in its discussion of trademark issues. Because the two guys share the same name, Paterno mentions the public could be confused as to the source of material or whether there's an endorsement being made.

The letter continues: "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."

Walsh the politician is affiliated to the Tea Party movement. It's a fact that is unlikely to endear him to Walsh the musician.

Republican candidates have a habit of taking the music of other people without permission. The party is big on property rights, but its leaders seem extremely cavalier about the property rights of others.