Record Companies Sue Ellen DeGeneres Show Over Music Copyrights

Ellen DeGeneres is back in the news today...

(Wow! Two days in a row. She is reaching Oprah status)

Today's Ellen news is not quite as positive as yesterday's announcement that she would be the next American Idol judge, although the news is music related.

You see, the production company that produces Ellen DeGeneres' show, (appropriately titled Ellen), is being sued by a gang of record companies. "For what?", you might ask yourself. Glad you asked.

Have you ever watched Ellen DeGeneres' TV show? It seems that a signature part of the show is her dancing around among the audience to various tunes. She does this every day. She has done it thousands of times. She uses oldies, and she uses current popular music.

Guess what?

She doesn't have a license to use that music.

According to the suit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Nashville, when representatives of the recording companies asked defendants why they hadn't obtained licenses to use the songs, defendants said they didn't "roll that way."

"As sophisticated consumers of music, Defendants knew full well that, regardless of the way they rolled, under the Copyright Act, and under state law for the pre-1972 recordings, they needed a license to use the sound recordings lawfully," the suit states.

Scott Rowe, spokesman for the show's Telepictures Productions, wrote in an e-mailed statement that the company has been working with the record labels for months to resolve the issue and remains willing to resolve it on "amicable and reasonable terms."

Rowe said the issue does not involve DeGeneres, who on Wednesday was named as the fourth judge on TV's "American Idol," and whom Rowe calls "a tremendous music enthusiast and advocate."

The suit claims the daytime talk show has used copyrighted music without permission since its inception, including "recordings by virtually every major current artist of popular music." It claims the show routinely used some of the most popular songs of the day, which the record labels don't license for daytime television at any price.

Other songs cited in the lawsuit include Michael Jackson's "Thriller"; The Beach Boys'"Good Vibrations" and Will Smith's "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It."

The suit calls the segment and the music played by the show's own disc jockey "signature elements of the show."

(Source: apmyway.com)

The poor starving record companies that filed this little number in court include Arista Music, Atlantic Recording Corp., Capitol Records, Motown Record Company, Sony Music Entertainment, Virgin Records America and Warner Bros. Records.

No word yet on a possible counter suit by Ellen producers for lack of compensation from the record companies for possible growth in sales of stale old songs that Ellen! reminded consumers of.

When reached at their expansive mansions, the record company execs and stars who recorded these songs would not comment, or they were too busy taping another MTV Cribs episode.


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Cook Yourself Thin Diet

Ed Doud: Nadya Suleman's Dad Talks To Oprah

The Nadya Suleman AKA Octomom saga continues. Her father, Ed Doud (Octogramps?), made an appearance on Oprah today and had a few things to say about his daughter...

On her TV Interviews:

They took her out of the hospital by midnight to a secret location. They did not even give her a chance to rest, to sleep, where she's still under medication and not feeling well."

"They bombard her with all these cameras," Doud said. "I am not saying that they kidnapped her. What I am saying is that it absolutely should have given her a little time until she heals at least and not be under so much medication."

The NBC interviews with Suleman aired Feb. 9 and 10 on the network's "Today" and "Dateline" shows. She gave birth to the octuplets on Jan. 26th. She was released from the hospital Feb. 5th.

NBC released the following statement to The Associated Press: "NBC News stands by every aspect of our interview with Nadya Suleman. Contrary to her father's allegations, we did not take Nadya from the hospital and the interview, which was conducted with respect, took place at a time of her choosing."

When asked by Oprah if he felt Nadya was under duress during the interview, Doud said, "That's how I feel."

On Her Childhood:

In the NBC interview, Suleman said she "longed for certain connections and attachments with another person that ... I really lacked, I believe, growing up." She described her childhood "pretty dysfunctional."

Doud said No Way..."We gave her so much love," he said. "No child has so much love. I thought what she meant is because she is the only child. I'm sure that's what she meant. She really wanted a brother or sister."

On Her Mental State:

According to excerpts released from Harpo Productions, Mr. Doud questions his daughter’s sanity and calls the Nadya's behavior "absolutely irresponsible." "Now I’m no psychiatrist, but I question her mental situation," he said.

As some of you may already know, Octogrammy is in danger of losing the Octohome because she is, believe it or not, behind on the house payments. As we have said before in our other Nadya Suleman posts...fame does not always equate to instant riches. And infamy? Well, you know the answer to that.

Bottom line: The woman is nuts and was looking for a ticket to the big time.