Just in time for Bon Jovi’s recent Boston concert, Bart Steele Publishing (Chelsea, MA) has sued John Bongiovi individually, his publishing company, bandmates, and a host of defendants (including Major League Baseball, TBS, the law firm of Skadden Arps, and number of individual attorneys there) for knowingly falsifying copyright management information related to an accused work based on Steele’s song “Man I Really Love This Team,” a “country-rock Boston Red Sox and baseball-themed musical work.”
This is not the first time Steele has brought a claim relating to this song. An earlier copyright infringement suit, 08-11727 (D. Mass.), was dismissed and an appeal, 09-2571 (1st Cir.), is pending. The original action asserted that MLB, TBS, and Bon Jovi wrongfully copied Steel’s song to create an accused work which was released in an ad for MLB and included on a Bon Jovi album.
This new suit alleges that the defendants (including the attorneys for Bon Jovi, et. al.) knew that Steele’s song was used as a temp track in creating the accused work, and aided in altering the copyright information related to the accused work in a number of ways. The complaint also asserts that other individual attorneys at Dwyer & Collora may have also engaged in the alteration but those attorneys aren’t named as defendants.
The new verified complaint includes counts for violation of 17 U.S.C. § 1202 (integrity of copyright management information) and seeks damages, fees, and costs.
Steele v. Bongiovi, 10-11218-DPW (D. Mass. July 20, 2010)
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