Apple Inc (AAPL)

[Bootz]

ace, don't you know the real John Lennon when you hear him? That was no hired studio voice.

Beatles song

Nike has been a focus of criticism for their use of the Beatles song "Revolution" in a commercial, against the wishes of Apple Records, the Beatles' recording company. Nike reportedly paid $250,000 to Capitol Records Inc., which held the North American licensing rights to the Beatles' recordings, for the right to use the Beatles' rendition for a year.

According to a July 28, 1987 article written by the Associated Press, Apple sued Nike Inc., Capitol Records Inc., EMI Records Inc. and Wieden+Kennedy advertising agency for $15 million. Capitol-EMI countered by saying the lawsuit was 'groundless' because Capitol had licensed the use of "Revolution" with the "active support and encouragement of Yoko Ono Lennon, a shareholder and director of Apple."

According to a November 9, 1989 article in the Los Angeles Daily News, "a tangle of lawsuits between the Beatles and their American and British record companies has been settled." One condition of the out-of-court settlement was that terms of the agreement would be kept secret. The settlement was reached among George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Yoko Ono, and Apple, EMI Records and Capitol Records. A spokesman for Yoko Ono noted, "It's such a confusing myriad of issues that even people who have been close to the principals have a difficult time grasping it. Attorneys on both sides of the Atlantic have probably put their children through college on this."

Nike discontinued airing ads featuring "Revolution" in March 1988. Yoko Ono later gave permission to Nike to use John Lennon's "Instant Karma" in another memorable ad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike,_Inc.#Beatles_song

Embedded links in the article.

And for what it's worth, just as I was typing that, a Bank One TV ad came on with the Beatles' "Hello Goodbye" playing in the background that did seem to have been done by some anonymous cover band.

I see that McCartney's own version of "Fine Line" is also being used to sell cars -- can't remember which one off the top of my head but I'm pretty sure it was Japanese. Bet he got more than a quarter of a mil for it, too.