kevvyc writes "From the LA Times: A cowboy-singer-poet from a town called Dusty is accusing Internet giant Yahoo Inc. in a lawsuit of rustling his signature vocalization in thousands of commercials.
Wylie Gustafson, who was paid $590 to record the "ya-hooo [WAV]" six years ago, says the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based global network owes him $5 million for poaching his yodel.
"All I know is I created this yodel and it's become an audio trademark for this company, and that wasn't the original agreement," Gustafson, 40, said Thursday in a telephone interview from his ranch in eastern Washington, near the town of Dusty, population 12. "They totally ignored the fact that it is a creation and it's a copyrighted thing," he said. "They just ran with it....Getting taken advantage of is part of the business. But this is way beyond the scope of what I consider fair."
Note:
Would anyone like to do the LawMeme yodel?
Ernest Miller adds:
C|Net News carries a Reuters wirestory (Man Sues Yahoo for $5 Million for Using His Yodel).
Take a listen to some other yodels here (Wylie and the Wild West Sound Clips)."