No Charge for ‘Charge!’?

MIAMI (CN) - A man who claims he wrote the San Diego Chargers fight song 33 years ago, whose "operative and most commonly known part" is "da da da da da da ... Charge!", says ASCAP has collected millions of dollars in royalties from it over the decades, but has paid him "little to nothing since 1982."

Bobby Kent fka Ira Brandwein and Hollbrand Music Publishers sued the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in Miami-Dade County Court.

Kent says he was musical director for the Chargers football team in 1978 when he and Bernardo Hollman wrote the song, "Stadium Doo Dads."

"The operative and most commonly known part of Kent's composition goes 'da da da da da da ... Charge!'" according to the complaint.

Kent claims that "ASCAP collected licensing and other usage fees paid by third-party users of Kent's composition, on behalf of Kent and Hollbrand, and instead of paying to Kent and Hollbrand their contractual share of these fees, ASCAP instead retained all of them for its sole use and benefit."

He adds: "The royalties paid to Kent and Hollman commencing in 1990 and for few years thereafter only represent the licensing fees paid to ASCAP by the San Diego Chargers, and not any of the other sports teams, stadiums, arenas, or other users of Kent's composition."

He claims: "Since the mid-to-late 1980's, and continuing to the present, Kent's composition has become immensely popular at the stadiums and arenas of all professional and amateur sports teams, many of which regularly and repeatedly play Kent's composition during each game."

Kent claims ASCAP gave many third parties "blanket licenses" to use the song, and that "unbeknownst to Kent and Hollbrand, ASCAP does not track songs that publicly performed in stadiums, which policy ASCAP has intentionally hid from composers, such as Kent, and publishers, such as Hollbrand."

He says, "Even though ASCAP has issued blanket licenses for the use of Kent's composition and collected millions of dollars for its use, ASCAP has paid little to nothing to Kent or Hollbrand since 1982."

Kent seeks damages for fraud, deceptive and unfair trade practices and breach of contract. He is represented by Richard Wolfe with Ehrenstein Charbonneau & Calderín.

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