(dpa) - Singer Jackson Browne has sued Republican presidential candidate John McCain for using one of his songs in a campaign ad that ridiculed Democratic contender Barack Obama, Billboard magazine reported Thursday.
In the lawsuit filed in the District Court in Los Angeles, Browne, a lifelong Democrat, is seeking unspecified damages as well as a permanent injunction prohibiting the use of the song, Running on Empty, in any form by the McCain campaign.
In the suit, Browne claimed that McCain did not obtain permission to use the song for an ad in which "Senator McCain and the Republicans mock Democratic candidate for president Barack Obama for suggesting that the country conserve gas through proper tyre inflation."
"Not only have Senator McCain and his agents plainly infringed Mr. Browne's copyright in 'Running on Empty,' but the Federal Courts have long held that the unauthorized use of a famous singer's voice in a commercial constitutes a false endorsement and a violation of the singer's right of publicity," said Browne's lawyer Lawrence Iser. dpa ag ar