Another crazy lawsuit

[Basvarken]

Guitarist Adrian Vandenberg Gets Sued For The Rights To His Own Name

http://mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=156056





What a bunch of losers!

[Dave W]

Bizarre!

If you sell a business with your own name, you won't be able to start a new one with the same name as long as that company's still in business. But these guys are trying to claim a band name that never belonged to them. I don't see how they can succeed with the trademark application.

[gweimer]

Just ask Dean Zelinski.  He sold Dean Guitars.  His new company is using DBZ Guitars.

[Basvarken]

The point is that Adrian VandenBerg never sold his name to anyone.
It was his band, his songs, his lyrics, his artwork.

Today he wrote on Facebook that the judge rejected the claim of his former bandmembers.

[uwe]

It's a bit like someone sueing Blackmore for the name Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow.

[dadagoboi]

The guy currently building Phantom guitars and basses owns the trademark on the Phantom shape and the name in the original Vox typeface.  Neither of which he designed or purchased.  He just applied for the trademark which was considered abandoned.

[drbassman]

The guy currently building Phantom guitars and basses owns the trademark on the Phantom shape and the name in the original Vox typeface.  Neither of which he designed or purchased.  He just applied for the trademark which was considered abandoned.

Clever man!

[Dave W]

The guy currently building Phantom guitars and basses owns the trademark on the Phantom shape and the name in the original Vox typeface.  Neither of which he designed or purchased.  He just applied for the trademark which was considered abandoned.

That's a bit different. If something was once trademarked and then abandoned, it's presumed that it can be trademarked by someone else.

In this case they're trying to trademark the name of someone who's still in business, so to speak. The whole purpose of trademark protection is to avoid confusion. These guys are trying to create it.

[Chris P.]

Adrian will win. There are three cases. He won two. Third one is that they try to register his name or something. But with two won cases, he will be okay!

Sometimes it's a difficult case. Think Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour and their fight over the name Pink Floyd, but that's a totally different story and no family names involved... ...though there are people who think there's actually a mr. Floyd. I believe one of the record company guys (a big shot) made the mistake once to ask the band who of them Pink Floyd was:)

Dean is of course also another case. Same with Fender and his last brand with the 'Guitars by Leo' stamp:)

BTW: I love how an early Spinal Tap wanted to call themselves 'The Originals'. But there was already a band called The Originals, so the chose for 'The New Originals' 

[gweimer]

And then, there's Fleetwood Mac.

[uwe]

Whose drummer committed to tour as Fleetwood Mac in the mid-seventies (prior to Lindsay and Stevie resurrecting the band), had management put a band for him together (which later became Stretch), but did not show up at the rehearsals, then said he'd still tour, but did not show up for the first few gigs either, pacified by claiming he'd join "after the first few dates", but never did, leaving the band without him go down in flames and acrimony as "the bogus Fleetwood Mac". Elmer Gantry, the gifted singer and guitarist in that line up, didn't think it was funny and wrote a song about it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAhPtFs918o&feature=related

It's not a song about a jilted lover, it's about him and Mick Fleetwood.