{"id":729,"date":"2024-05-15T17:22:17","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T17:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/new-wave-group-the-plimsouls-win-legal-battle-over-band-name\/"},"modified":"2024-05-15T17:25:55","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T17:25:55","slug":"new-wave-group-the-plimsouls-win-legal-battle-over-band-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/new-wave-group-the-plimsouls-win-legal-battle-over-band-name\/","title":{"rendered":"New Wave Group The Plimsouls Win Legal Battle Over Band Name"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Members of the 1980s new wave band The Plimsouls<\/strong> have won a legal ruling against the group\u2019s guitarist over the trademark rights to the band\u2019s name \u2013 the music industry\u2019s latest battle over the names of classic rock groups.<\/p>\n

In a decision issued last week, a federal trademark tribunal sided with Peter Case and two other members of the Plimsouls \u2013 best known for their 1983 hit \u201cA Million Miles Away\u201d<\/a> from the movie Valley Girl<\/a><\/em> \u2013 in their fight with guitarist Eddie Munez<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The band had accused Munez of effectively going rogue, including performing under \u201cThe Plimsouls\u201d with new musicians and seeking to secure his own trademarks to the name. They claimed fans \u201cunwittingly bought tickets\u201d to the shows because they thought it was the real band.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday (May 18), the federal Trademark Trial and Appeal Board said it was \u201ccrystal clear\u201d that the band collectively, and not Munez alone, owned the rights to \u201cThe Plimsouls\u201d name \u2013 thanks in part to the fact that they were all continuing to receive royalties.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Munez] had and continues to have his cake (royalties from the band). But he cannot eat it too (exclusively own the band\u2019s mark),\u201d the board wrote. \u201cThe public associates the \u2026 THE PLIMSOULS with the group, not just its lead guitarist.\u201d<\/p>\n

The battle between the members of the Plimsouls is just the latest clash between bandmates over the legal rights<\/a> to classic group names. Journey, Stone Temple Pilots and Jefferson Starship have all fought protracted litigation over their trademarks, as have members of the Rascals, the Ebonys, the Commodores and the Platters.<\/p>\n

Such disputes often arise out of one question: Who truly constitutes the band? Is it the band members, or an LLC that owns the rights to the name? Is it the original lineup, or the one that produced the biggest hits? Does one key member and a bunch of replacements count? Fans, band members and lawyers will likely give you different answers.<\/p>\n

In the case of the Plimsouls, the band argued that all four members had always been members of a partnership that equally split control of the band\u2019s intellectual property, including the trademarks to the band\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

Munez argued back that the band had \u201cabandoned\u201d any such rights because his bandmates had failed to perform any live concerts under the name since 2007. But in its ruling last week, the trademark board rejected that argument.<\/p>\n

\u201cPetitioner has not abandoned its mark The Plimsouls because the band\u2019s music has remained on sale \u2026 throughout the band\u2019s 45-year existence,\u201d the judge wrote. \u201cThe [trademark] has always identified their group, based on the group\u2019s music, and live and filmed performances. This explains why consumers have complained to [the band] after mistaking [Munez]\u2019s band for [The Plimsouls] and being disappointed as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither side immediately returned a request for comment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of the 1980s new wave band The Plimsouls have won a legal ruling against the group\u2019s guitarist over the trademark rights to the band\u2019s name \u2013 the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1105,435,1126,136,1127,977,834],"class_list":["post-729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-band","tag-battle","tag-group","tag-legal","tag-plimsouls","tag-wave","tag-win"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":731,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729\/revisions\/731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}