Jane Davidson offers legal insight into “Hotel California” trial

Jane Davidson (‘14), a USC Thornton Music Industry program alumna and faculty member, was featured in a KCAL 9 News segment about The Eagles’ “Hotel California” lyrics trial. Ownership over the song’s lyrics has been in question for several years. In February, three men were charged with conspiring to own and sell manuscripts of “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits.

Davidson offered her insight into the trial and explained how it became a criminal case: “A big issue that’s come up—and the former manager of The Eagles, Irving Azoff, testified in the case—is that they were constantly trying to get [the lyrics] back. Don Henley (a founding member of The Eagles) said he felt like he was being extorted. I think that’s what crossed this over from what would have typically been a civil lawsuit to something that they sought some type of criminal action in.”