On July 7, 2016 Darlene Love, “an icon of pop music’s golden age”, filed suit in a California federal court accusing HGTV of using her song “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” in its advertisements for the network’s holiday programming. Love alleges HGTV, owned by Scripps Networks Inc., used her song without permission, depriving her of licensing fees and labor union protection.
In her complaint filed on Thursday, Love sought to show that HGTV created multiple commercials using her song to imply to the public that Love endorsed the programming. Apparently, this could not be further from the truth as according to the complaint Love was worried about associating her goodwill and likeness with holiday programming of “dubious quality.” Further, Love claims Scripps refused to take any steps to obtain Love’s consent and, in fact, took steps to work around her consent and contacting her for the purposes of obtaining permission by going to the record company that owns the recording. Finally, the complaint claims Scripps Network engaged in a despicable and conscious disregard of Love’s rights including the right to labor union protection, licensing fees, and the control and use of her identity — all of which she would be entitled too.
This lawsuit is not Love’s first foray into the legal world. In January 2016, Love sued Google for their use of her holiday classic “It’s a Marshmallow World” for their use of the song in their Nexus phone advertisements. In the Google case, Love alleged virtually the same causes of action and claims in the current lawsuit with HGTV. In the end, Love voluntarily dismissed her suit against Google; however, the terms of her dismissal are not disclosed.