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Ten Thousand Motels |
Frank Zappa's Widow Sues Over Music Use
MONTREAL - The widow of eclectic musician Frank Zappa appeared in a Canadian court Monday to sue a Quebec furniture store chain for unauthorized use of one of his guitar instrumentals in a commercial.
Gail Zappa and her lawyer flew in from California more than five years after the lawsuit was filed against Ameublements Tanguay Inc.
The commercial, broadcast only in eastern Quebec in 1995, used Watermelon in Easter Hay from the album Joe's Garage.
"It's a signature work of my husband, it's part of a literary work and not only did they take it without permission, they whacked it, they cut it and chopped it up to suit their design," Gail Zappa said in an interview Sunday night.
Zappa, who died in 1993, was a quirky artist whose fans included many people other than rockers. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.
The case was being heard in a Quebec City federal court.
The furniture chain insists the whole thing is due to a misunderstanding and it made a mistake in good faith.
It said it did not realize the song was Zappa's and had hired a Quebec City producer which subcontracted the musical work to a freelancer.
Tanguay, a 10-store chain, is a subsidiary of Montreal-based Groupe BMTC Inc., a holding company with 2,000 employees and a net income of about $27 million in 2002.
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