January 25, 2006
Down By Law
Iconoclastic musician/actor/franchise hero Tom Waits believes in protecting his own style as a unique legal property. In a New York Times article on January 20, 2006, Mr. Waits discussed cases he’s brought against Frito-Lay, the Audi division of Volkswagen and the Opel division of General Motors. The Frito-Lay case was decided in Mr. Waits’ favor 16 years ago; he was awarded $2.5 million for Frito-Lay’s use of a vocal sound-alike in a Doritos commercial. The case against Audi resulted from a commercial in Spain using music suspiciously similar to Waits’ song, “Innocent When You Dream” and sung by a voice suspiciously similar to Waits’. In November 2005, a Spanish appellate court in Barcelona decided the case in Waits’ favor and he was this month awarded $43,000 for copyright infringement and an additional $36,000 for violation of his “moral rights” as an artist. A lawyer for the company which produced the Audi commercial said that the producer and Audi acted in complete and absolute good faith. Mr. Waits’ case against Opel focuses on a version of Brahms “Lullaby” performed in what Waits calls a suspiciously Waitsian voice.
In explaining his tenacity in defending his image, Mr. Waits said “It’s part of an artist’s odyssey, discovering your own voice and struggling to find the combination of qualities that makes you unique. It’s kind of like your face, your identity. Now I’ve got these unscrupulous doppelgängers out there – my evil twin who is undermining every move I make.” . . . every breath you take; every cake you bake . . .