McCain is suing Jackson Browne for his own unauthorized (and unpaid for) use of a Browne song in a campaign commercial. When Browne sued to get fair compensation for the use and to stop future use of the song, McCain sued, claiming suppression of free speech.
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Comments
I read the comments to this story and some of them really frightened me. Such hateful speech! "Browne is bad, McCain good", "Obama is their saviour", "Communists", and so on and so forth. Maybe I'm stupid but I don't understand what these things have to do with this case.
I think that McCain should have asked permission to use the song, otherwise the consequence might be that anyone is using anyone's songs anywhere without permission, because "McCain didn't need to ask, so why should we?"
There is a concept in copyright law called fair use. McCain's legal documents spell out why he believes his use qualifies as fair use. This doesn't mean you can use "anyone's songs anywhere without permission," but there are some guidelines that allow limited use of copyrighted material in limited situations.
Well, I think it would have been polite to ask, or, if he was afraid that the answer would have been negative, at least inform Browne about his intentions. But maybe politeness is seen as a weakness nowadays?