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The cogs of justice turning slowly, but surely
EU General Court made a ruling yesterday, October 4, 2018, in the legal dispute between Blackmore and Paice over the ‘Deep Purple’ trademark. In April 2013 Blackmore applied to register the trademark in EU to cover musical recordings, clothing, and entertainment services. Apparently the name of the band was (and still is) unregistered. Should the trademark was granted, he would be in control of the ability of the band to record and perform under the name, as well as sell the merchandise.
Naturally, the band didn’t like that, and a notice of opposition was filed in the name of Paice (probably as the founding and the most long standing member). After years and years of hearings, rulings, appeals, and counter-appeals, the court for the most part sided with the band, and ordered both parties to pay the costs of their own appeals. This decision can still be further appealed (only on a point of law) to the European Court of Justice, which serves as the supreme court for the EU.
Thanks to BraveWords and WIPR for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
What is Blackmore playing at, he can earn shed loads in rainbow plus all his royalties from the purple songs. Why he feels he needs to own the name is a blatent piss take, he quit years ago so Morse is the guitar player. Having young kids in your seventies wrecks your brain methinks.
October 5th, 2018 at 19:32Ian and Richie should be equally awarded rights. All others are just hired guns.
October 5th, 2018 at 20:02I’m disgusted…Blackmore filed it less than a year after Jon Lord’s death too. Disappointing.
October 5th, 2018 at 20:11Well thats zilch chance of blackmore ever remotely appearing on the same stage as the ‘living breathing ‘ deep purple.
October 5th, 2018 at 20:11My guess is it had more to do with managers, lawyers, and record label execs than with Blackmore and Paice.
October 5th, 2018 at 20:32Much respect for Mr.Paice. Blackmore got someone yanking his crank.
October 5th, 2018 at 21:36hi… a doubt .. If really the name of DP is still unregistered, How the band sued Rod Evans for the concert in Mexico 1980?
October 5th, 2018 at 21:50Blackmore really can be a bit of a twat…🙄
October 5th, 2018 at 22:01Surely they need to sort it out while there is some legislative body to sort it out. Once we become the the “island behind the sofa” legislated by Boris’s Unicorn Court all bets are off and the royalties for “Live in Europe” will be null and void!
October 5th, 2018 at 23:02Blackmore still thinks he’s the chosen one.
October 5th, 2018 at 23:06He was quoted as saying he didn’t want to be shackled to the band forever
I was under the impression from recent interviews that all was well in the Deep Purple family. Interesting they can be on speaking terms while there was a law suit out there.
October 6th, 2018 at 00:38Ay caramba!!!
October 6th, 2018 at 04:49His mother in law is his manager…..
October 6th, 2018 at 10:16Blackmore Is right.
October 6th, 2018 at 14:16He made the Group and the Name,and the.music.
Blackmore se esta pareciendo a Ricardo Soule
October 6th, 2018 at 14:26Yup I guess.
October 6th, 2018 at 14:55Ritchie sei ridicolo 🤣🤣
October 6th, 2018 at 17:32GOOD!
Ritchie left DP a long time ago voluntarily and has absolutely no rights in claiming the name for himself and his present releases / business.
October 7th, 2018 at 08:28that blackmore is one mean money grabbing son of a b—-….even at his age..
October 7th, 2018 at 12:45So much for a reunion!!!! Wake up loyal fans the battle rages on!!!
October 7th, 2018 at 15:07Ouch, I didn’t know it was that nasty:
Today, in the third decision, T-328/16, the General Court rejected both arguments.
On intention to deceive, the court said it is common ground that Blackmore is a former member of the band and, as such, “is associated with the band in the mind of the public, which cannot in itself amount to proof of a deceptive intent on his part”.
Paice and Blackmore were ordered to pay the costs of their appeals.
October 8th, 2018 at 22:42Purple continues to sell merchandise like tshirts with Ritchie on it like the cover of In rock etc. When Ritchie saw this he told them to take his likeness off. He probably got a hold of legal team and decided to sue. Why only Ritchie and paicey are involved is not quite clear as rod Evans and Nick simper are both still alive from mk 1
October 9th, 2018 at 08:22So… if RB won, then the current band we know & love as DP could not record or tour as DP anywhere in the EU. Is that correct?.
October 9th, 2018 at 10:37Hmmmm…
Ladies & Gentleman, for your pleasure, live across Europe, introducing: RB’S DP, playing all our Memories In Rock! Featuring members of BN… hahaha!
I don’t believe that he wouldn’t do it…
Who knows?… maybe he would have invited Joe, or even David & Glenn to be a part of it…
You know, I’m just speculating. Does it even bear thinking about?.
Of course, in the end it’s always about money & control. Grumpy old men.
It’s sad to watch friends & loved ones fight, but in the end…. I don’t know… que sera sera!.
Suspect there are no new issues between Ritchie and the band, this sounds like some tidying up admin which the musicians will not have much to do with.
October 9th, 2018 at 19:08At least the lawyers made a few dollars
October 10th, 2018 at 11:05Rosanna @14,
The likes of this has been tiresome for far too long….
Peace,
October 10th, 2018 at 13:16Ted
Well, let’s face something : Even in this 2018 (Long Goodbye Tour) , with a recent album, that supposedly had a great success and has been listed as one of the best in its catalog (?¿) , according to the recent reviews we’ve read here in THS and sites like setlist.fm, they play a repertoire whose content is divided as follows : 28% from Machine Head, 14.7 % from Infinite, 10.5% from Perfect Strangers,10.2% from Fireball, 9.5% from In Rock, 8.7% from Now What, and 2.5% from Purpendicular, the rest is 9.1% of covers, and other 9.1% of Solos… As you can see almost all the material comes from Blackmore era. I don’t know if RB is receiving some royalty everytime they play a song from his era, but let’s face it : DP keeps playing much Blackmore era material than ever. For example, if you see the recent setlist from Canada it’s amazing how they almost “forget” to play material of their recent album and and are almost entirely limited to playing material from the Blackmore era.. And if you see these statistics here : https://www.setlist.fm/stats/deep-purple-3bd6acc8.html you can clearly see what my point is: They keep playing more Blackmore that ever and maybe , just maybe, Blackmore is not entirely wrong when he claims more legal rights to what the group is today .. Of course all of this IMHO
October 10th, 2018 at 21:46Nick was bought out in 1969 and relinquished all his rights – a decision he must certainly regret. Rod chose to continue to receive royalties and while these were paused after his unfortunate bogus Purple ploy in the early 80ies, they were some years ago resumed again. So our hospital orderly/medical doctor/whatever-and-wherever-he-is-now is back to earning money from the Purple back catalogue.
Deservedly so: Rod was a crooner, not a rock singer and he could never have gone where Gillan, Hughes, Coverdale and even Joelene subsequently went, but he nevertheless left his stamp on Mk 1. I like those first three albums (especially Book of Talisyn, Purple’s exploit into psychedelic prog) though I prefer what he later on did with Captain Beyond, a vastly underrated band. Especially their second album with the Santana influences is great.
October 11th, 2018 at 14:53In other news:
October 13th, 2018 at 10:19“HIGHWAY STAR. Deep Purple legend Ian Paice on three decades of life with his mean-streak Mercedes-Benz 500SEL AMG”
https://www.classiccarsmagazine.co.uk/november-2018-issue-more/
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56cb3ac61d07c0dde8090d15/t/5baa43101905f44e420cef9e/1537884968120/CC+cover+NOV+2018small.jpg
The band was originally formed by Jon Lord and Ritchie, and Ritchie chose the name. I’m sure he has no intention of performing under the name Deep Purple. Although the name would have to have been registered in the US for them to sue Rod Evans, Europe is a different matter. Remember these musicians are not getting younger and they all have children who’s education needs paying for; though I’d rather Ritchie had done it by recording a new Rainbow album & toured with it.
November 5th, 2018 at 09:32I know Ritchie has young children with Candice, but the others probably only have grandchildren that are still in education.
November 6th, 2018 at 22:23