Tom Petty / KLOS Sued

THIS CRAP IS WHY TOM CAN'T READ HIS FAN MAIL!!!
Tom Petty, LA Radio Station Sued Over Album Idea

LOS ANGELES -- A songwriter claiming his ideas were stolen filed a $4.5 million suit Wednesday against rock star Tom Petty, KLOS-FM Radio and longtime disc jockey Jim Ladd.

The suit alleges the ideas for Petty's 2002 song and album "The Last DJ" did not belong to the singer.
A message left with the station's legal department was not immediately returned, and a representative for Petty couldn't be located for comment.

Plaintiff Jim Wagner claims he sent Ladd a "demo" recording of a song he wrote about the disc jockey entitled "The Last Great Radio DJ" in 2000 and that Ladd requested to use it as the theme song on his nightly radio show.

According to the suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Wagner was "thrilled" and "readily agreed to the request without even requesting any form of compensation."

When Wagner and Ladd agreed the song would be used on the show, "there was implied both in-fact and by law" that the songwriter would be compensated if the song was used in any way other than as the theme song, the suit states.

But the following year, Wagner claims Ladd gave Petty the "demo" and that the rocker "promptly took the idea, theme, title, and overall 'feel' of the song and wrote and recorded his 'version' of the song, which he entitled 'The Last DJ.'"

The song was released by Warner Bros. that October, leaving the commercial value of Wagner's song "dead," the suit states.

The songwriter claims he would have earned at least $1.5 million from the exploitation of the song. He's asking for exemplary damages of $4.5 million.