I really didn't think we'd still be talking about the Super Bowl commercials more than a month after the game ended, but we are. It seems that every other company that had an ad during the game is being sued in one way or another. The latest defendants are Kia and CBS, who televised the game.The Hollywood Reporter reports that the two companies (and a few others, including the NFL and the ad agency) are being sued by Drive-In Music Company, who says that the song used in the Kia ad (the one with Muno from 'Yo Gabba Gabba') is very similar to a song by Dyke and the Blazers that they own called "Let A Woman Be A Woman." This commercial is still being shown a lot.
After the jump, the two songs. You be the judge.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
3-15-2010 @ 2:18PM
hessian said...
Kia = guilty.
CBS & NFL = not guilty.
Can't expect the nets and the league to police copyright clearances on commercials.
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3-16-2010 @ 2:11AM
hessian said...
Correction. The Heavy = guilty. All others are free to go.
3-15-2010 @ 2:45PM
Ryan said...
I thought the song in the commercial was How You Like Me Now by The Heavy. If anyone should be sued it should be The Heavy, not Kia or CBS.
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3-15-2010 @ 3:34PM
Ryan said...
Ditto
3-15-2010 @ 5:03PM
John Heltsley said...
It *is* "How You Like Me Now" by The Heavy. I have both of their albums. If you looks at the non-Super Bowl cuts of the Kia commercial, they actually show an iPod connected with the Heavy's album cover on it.
Welcome to modern America, as Dan says below. Sue everyone for everything. Eventually, something will stick.
3-15-2010 @ 3:38PM
John C said...
Who ever is to blame, somebody owes the Drive-In Music Company some Buck-O's.
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3-15-2010 @ 3:30PM
Basketcase456 said...
When I heard the commercial the first time, I knew that the song sounded unbelievably familiar. After listening to them again, I believe Drive-In Music Company has a case.
Read the case in the link in the posting. The case sues anyone that could have made money off of this. So it's not just CBS and KIA. It's also the band The Heavy and their record company.
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3-15-2010 @ 4:32PM
Dan Chichian said...
They are following what my business law professor always said: Sue everyone and one of them will eventually settle.
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3-15-2010 @ 6:03PM
Ian said...
So you couldn't even bother to link to Kia's official YouTube channel, as opposed to linking to something taped off a TV?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJqs3D2vv4I
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3-15-2010 @ 11:01PM
pumpkinhead said...
Yeah, it sounds kinda like it... and like a million other crappy songs.
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3-16-2010 @ 2:04AM
kj said...
You stole my line. Remember the old addage: "Hard to tell, they all look alike."? Can't say that anymore but it sure applies to today's music.
3-16-2010 @ 12:18AM
surfdogge69 said...
Wow. It's not like it's Stairway to Heaven, Hey Jude, or even anything by Britney Spears. It's nothing song(s) by nothing band(s). Who f ing cares....What will they make from a lawsuit, about $50? They lawyers will make a ton.
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3-16-2010 @ 12:48AM
Joe Papierz Jr said...
I don't see how anyone can copyright a rythmn or choice of instrumentation. So many of today's songs sound alike it's rediculous. Drop the dumb lawsuits and make some more music that sounds different.
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3-16-2010 @ 1:30AM
Nan said...
KIA and CBS -- GUILTY
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3-16-2010 @ 2:04AM
KC said...
OMG are people sue happy or what? I swear some people wake up and make lists of what way they can sue someone and make money.
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3-16-2010 @ 9:19AM
Nitroman said...
A friend of mine's Dad spent the last 20 years of his life suing anyone he had ever came in contact with. These were mostly government agencies or individuals. He made more money in his last 20 years of like than he did in his 40 years of working for the railroad and Post Office. I could never understand how he could win these cases. They were all bogus.
3-16-2010 @ 2:06AM
Marie said...
Lyrics differ, but instrumentation's the same. Pay the people. Maybe now, Dyke and The Blazers can finally get some monetary recognition.
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3-16-2010 @ 3:47AM
Kyle said...
Maybe The Heavy had cover permission but Kia did not go through Dyke & the Blazers as well before signing to use the song in the commercial. But even then, this has more to do with suing Kia or the music licensor's in charge of the song...that is if The Heavy had permission to cover the instrumentals.
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3-16-2010 @ 5:14AM
Michael said...
It is the song by The Heavy so Kia, CBS and anyone else in the lawsut should be free and clear. It's not going to get to far in front of the judge.
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3-16-2010 @ 6:03AM
Mr. Edaw said...
They both sound like vintage James Brown to me, so maybe his estate should be suing both bands...
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