rico blanco vs. gilbert teodoro on copyright infringement – teodoro should pay up and revise his tv ad

the internet, twitter and facebook is abuzz on this issue – intellectual property rights infringement of rico blanco by gilbert teodoro on the use of the song “posible” that rico blanco composed and sang when he was with river maya in teodoro’s new tv ad that has been getting heavy air play.

this started when rico blanco on his twitter account said his permission was not asked by the teodoro to use the song in his tv ad.

i’d like to understand how can a presidentiable can overlook a simple matter such as intellectual property. command responsibility. about 18 hours ago from TweetDeck

i’d like to understand how can a presidentiable can overlook a simpe matter such as intellectual property. command responsibility.
about 18 hours ago from TweetDeck

and they dont even have to.
about 18 hours ago from TweetDeck

even HS students ask permission from me if they want to use my songs for their school projects. about 18 hours ago from TweetDeck

but perhaps i should just let the lawyers handle it.
about 21 hours ago from TweetDeck

i’m itching to tweet about this VERY STRANGE intellectual property issue that came to my attention just last night. about 21 hours ago from TweetDeck

http://twitter.com/1ricoblanco

dennis garcia, a known composer and part of the Hotdog band in the 70s is the probably the musical director of the teodoro tv ad posted in his facebook account where he said everything was above board, that he has paid up the fees with lizza nakpil/circe communications who owns the rights to the song.

yesterday however, warner music philippines artist management rico’s label sent out a press release through  the law offices of Siguion Reyna, Montecillo and Ongsiako:

The use of the song “Posible” in a presidential candidate’s television advertisement is unauthorized.

This is according to singer-songwriter Rico Blanco, who is represented by his label, Warner Music Philippines Artist Management, which sent a press statement through the law offices of Siguion Reyna, Montecillo and Ongsiako less than 24 hours after music scorer Dennis Garcia posted on Jan. 7 a note on his Facebook account to purportedly end what he called “a million speculations and conspiracy theories” that his use of the aforementioned song has generated.

—

Warner Music’s press statement contradicted Garcia’s main points.

“Rico Blanco is the composer and reserved all intellectual property rights to it. He has not licensed the use of the composition to any political ad campaign, nor has he assigned any of his rights to another party or to a music publisher,” it read.

“Rico at this time has not endorsed any political candidate, whether for President or any other elective position, and is not affiliated with any political party. Nor have his services as a composer or performer been retained by any national political campaign.

“Rico Blanco and Warner Music Philippines Artist Management have requested that the campaign cease and desist from any further broadcast of ‘Posible’ and are hopeful that the concerned parties will act appropriately to avoid legal action.”

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/237628/issue-over-use-posible-song-gibos-tvc-far-over

this whole business is making us crazy and definitely a marketing nightmare for the teodoro campaign. the teodoro campaign should ask themselves this important question – “Do we really need this kind of trouble at the middle of the campaign period?”

there must be a million and one things that need to be done for  the campaign.  add to that a million and one issues to fix, is this one legal issue really necessary?

teodoro is coming out here as a man who does not care about the laws and the intellectual property rights of others. he is coming out here as an ineffective leader and manager who gets into a lot of problems, including legal ones. this episode for sure is something that he does not need added to the negative reviews he has gotten from his performance during the ondoy and pepeng floods and the maguindanao massacre.

here is what we thin teodoro need to do:

• get this out of the public discourse as soon as possible
• pay rico blanco what is due him
• issue an apology for the error, a press release with a picture of him and rico blanco shaking hands will be great
• find a fall guy. it can be dennis garcia or lizza nakpil

at the same time that is being done, i would suggest they revise the tv ad and remove rico blanco’s song from it. i don’t think the people needs to be reminded of it.

no campaign needs this kind of hassle at any point of the campaign. it is a needless distraction.