No Doubt has filed suit against the video-game company Activision over the use of its band member’s avatars in the just-released Guitar Hero variant Band Hero, thanks to the ability for players to put Gwen Stefani through the paces of the hooker-glorifying “Honky Tonk Women.” Also, bassist Tony Kamal can be cross-dressed into singing “Just A Girl.” This usage of Stefani’s and Kamal’s likenesses, the suit claims, “transformed No Doubt band members into a virtual karaoke circus act.” Uh, hang on a second, I thought the utterly superfluous Talk Talk cover accomplished that task way back in 2003? [AP] MORE »
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Lawsuits
No Doubt Are Not Feeling Hella Good About Their “Band Hero” Cameos
Lawsuits
Katy Perry Gets Feisty Over The Right To Keep Her Fake Name
Katy Perry’s so-called bi-curiosity isn’t the only thing that’s phony about her; she also doesn’t use her real name (Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson) when she’s performing, perhaps so she can more easily shake off her Christian-pop past. Which is why it’s super-annoying to hear that her people have gotten it in their head to slap a cease-and-desist order on an Australian designer who’s actually named Katie Perry, and who just wants to put out a a line of slouchy loungewear under her own name. MORE »
Lawsuits
Soul Singer To Snap!: “I’m Gonna Get Your Royalties, Baby”
Soul singer Jocelyn Brown is suing the German pop group Snap for £10 million over their 1990 jock jam / movie trailer / sweet-16 staple “The Power,” saying that the iconic “I’ve got the pow-ahh!” yelp that serves as the foundation for the track was actually nicked from her 1986 single “Love’s Gonna Get You,” which hit No. 1 on the dance charts back then. Brown says that she deserves half of the royalties realized from the song because of her contribution to it; for those of you who’d like to do a compare-and-contrast, Brown’s ode to her power is at the 2:19 mark of the clip located after the jump. MORE »
Lawsuits
Steven Tyler Can’t Seem To Get A Grip On Just Who Was Impersonating Him Online
Steven Tyler’s lawsuit against anonymous bloggers who were pretending to be him has been dismissed by a Los Angeles court, thanks to the site’s host–the Google-owned Blogger–allowing people to sign up with any old semi-anonymous e-mail address, and therefore not having records of just who the people engaging in this crazy bit of celebrity impersonation were. The California judge who dismissed Tyler v. Does (long o, as in John/Jane) did dismiss it without prejudice, meaning that if Tyler and his band of investigators somehow find out who owned tylers849021.blogspot.com back in the day they can haul his (or her!) (or their?) butt right back into court. A brief description of the lawsuit after the jump. MORE »
Lawsuits
Freestyle Music Park Gets Stuck Between A Hard Rock And A Courtroom
Well, there go my plans for this weekend: The original owners of Hard Rock Park, who lost the South Carolina music-themed amusement park as the result of bankruptcy proceedings last September, are suing the people who have rebranded it as Freestyle Music Park for trademark infringement and unfair competition–and the legal proceedings may delay the park’s opening, which is scheduled for Saturday. Competition with what, you may ask, since the original owners seemed pretty much completely unable to keep their version of the family fun zone open for the duration of a summer? I was wondering too! MORE »
Lawsuits
“Dark Night Of The Soul” To Come With Blank CD
The Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse/David Lynch collaboration Dark Night Of The Soul–one of many blackness-themed albums on this year’s release docket–will have its packaging, which includes a book of Lynch photographs inspired by the music with in, covering a blank CD, thanks to some unfinished legal business between the producer and EMI: MORE »
Lawsuits
The Best Defense Is A Good Offense Dept.
“In a response filed in Los Angeles on Monday,… MORE »
Lawsuits
Courtney Love Being Dragged Into Brave New World Of Twitter Litigation (Twitigation?)
Courtney Love has moved some of her online rants from the confines of MySpace to the 140-character constraints of Twitter, but that hasn’t stopped her from maxing out its bandwidth for the purposes of accomodating her rantings. And now she’s being sued because of them! Dawn Simorangkir, who designs feather-festooned accessories under the banner BoudoirQueen, is hauling Love into court on charges of libel, breach of contract, invasion of privacy, and “intentional infliction of emotional distress.” The charges range from Love not paying for custom pieces to her allegedly embarking on “an obsessive and delusional crusade to terrorize and destroy” her and her brand that stretched from Boudoir Queen’s Etsy page to Love’s Twitter domain. MORE »
