It seems a Massachusetts man is either livin’ on a prayer, or perhaps has taken some bad medicine. In court documents filed late last week, a musician named Bart Steele launched a $400 billion lawsuit against Bon Jovi, alleging the band copied lyrics from a 2004 song of his titled “(Man I Really) Love This Team.”
Steele alleges that Jon Bon Jovi heard the original song ― which was used as an anthem for the Boston Red Sox ― while campaigning for presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004. As reported by antimusic.com, Steele calls the Bon Jovi hit “I Love This Town” (which was later used as a promotional track for Major League Baseball) an “unauthorized derivative version” of his original composition.
The suit went on to stipulate the following: “As intent will be easy to prove, we are seeking the statutorily authorized amount of $100,000 per CD sold. Just under four million CDs have been sold to date. This totals almost $400 billion.”
A host of other entities are listed as co-defendents in the suit, among them Turner Broadcasting System, Time-Warner and Major League Baseball.
To reiterate the disclaimer noted by antimusic.com, the allegations have yet to be proven in court and no admission of guilt has been made by any parties accused of wrongdoing. ―Russell Hall