John Denver and New Order

Though he hasn’t had anything like a hit since ”Shanghai Breezes” went to No. 31 in 1982 — or a real smash since ”Calypso” peaked at No. 2 in 1975 — pop-rocker John Denver’s influence lives on. Or so was the contention of a copyright infringement suit that began when an employee of Cherry Hill, Denver’s music publisher, heard a New Order song on the radio. Cherry Hill’s lawyers claimed that the British dance quartet’s 1989 song ”Run” borrows considerably from Denver’s ”Leaving on a Jet Plane,” which Peter, Paul & Mary rode to No. 1 way back in 1969. New Order’s lawyers eventually allowed that there had been some ”clearly inadvertent” infringement and agreed to pay a standard royalty to Cherry Hill. Denver, a spokesman says, has been unaware of the suit.