Update: Did Bobby Kent steal the song from a USC student who copyrighted it in 1955?
In 1978, Bobby Kent was the musical director for the San Diego Chargers football team when he composed a song he called "Stadium Doo Dads" or "Kent's Composition".
According to our new front-runner for best lawsuit of the year:
"The operative and most commonly known part of Kent's Composition goes 'da da da da da da... CHARGE!'"
Yep, that's right, Bobby Kent says he invented the "Charge" thing people do at stadiums. In fact, he copyrighted "Stadium Doo Dads" in 1981, and received $10,000 to $20,000 a year from the San Diego Chargers for its use, according to the suit.
Now he wants to really cash in, and is suing for proceeds from every sports team or stadium that has used the ditty.
Kent, co-owner of Pompano Beach's Hollbrand Music Publishers, filed suit Thursday in Miami-Dade County against the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
Kent claims that the licensing corporation negotiated "blanket licenses" including his song to the MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA and NASCAR, without payment or his permission.
ASCAP has "collected millions of dollars" from his creation, Kent claims, and failed to track "performances" of the song that could have netted millions more in royalties.
In preparation for the suit, Kent's Brickell-based attorney Richard C. Wolfe says he wrote letters to major sports teams demanding information on their use of the song. "Many of them replied back and said they had never used it, which was totally untrue," Wolfe tells Riptide. The worst offender: the Texas Rangers. By the attorney's count, "they used it 31 times during the World Series."
The lawsuit doesn't name a dollar amount that Kent believes he is due. But multiply the $10,000 he says he received at minimum from the Chargers per year, by the -- very conservative estimate -- 200 teams or entities he claims used it without his permission, and multiply that times thirty for the amount of years since he copyrighted the ditty...
We're no lawyers, or accountants, but by our math Bobby Kent might be able to blast his bugle in his own damn stadium when all is said and done.
We've embedded the complaint below.
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