A Sublime Court Decision

LukinFan

http://www.pollstar.com/blogs/news/arch ... 96529.aspx


What’s in a band’s name? Plenty if the name is “Sublime.” A judge yesterday ordered a group consisting of former Sublime members to cease using the moniker without approval from the deceased lead singer’s estate.

American ska band Sublime was on the road to success during the first half of the 1990s. Formed by Bradley Nowell, Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh in Long Beach during the late ‘80s, the band broke up after lead singer Nowell’s death from a heroin overdose in 1996.

Wilson and Gaugh went on to form Long Beach Dub Allstars in 1997. After the band dissolved in 2002, Wilson went on to become a member of Long Beach Short Bus.

Earlier this year Wilson and Gaugh, along with singer Rome Ramirez, began performing as Sublime, but it wasn’t until the group was booked to play the Cypress Hill Smokeout that Nowell’s estate took notice and called the lawyers.

Yesterday, U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz granted Nowell’s estate a preliminary injunction ordering Wilson, Gaugh and Ramirez to stop performing as Sublime.

“The point we tried to make is that we encourage these gentlemen to go out and play,” said Jeremiah Reynolds, the attorney representing Nowell’s estate said after the judge’s decision Tuesday. “We think they’re great musicians. We just don’t think it’s appropriate to call a group that doesn’t have Bradley and has a new lead singer Sublime. It’s consistent with Brad’s intentions that we seek to protect the name. The court agreed that Bud and Eric and the new lead singer didn’t have the right to go out and call themselves Sublime.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, the ruling will be upheld until a breach-of-contract / trademark infringement suit gets underway. That is, unless the bickering parties settle first.

The judgment also calls for some money – specifically, a $125,000 bond to be posted by Nowell’s estate in case it’s determined the now Sublime-less band suffered damages because of yesterday’s ruling. Reynolds said the bond would be posted.

In response to yesterday’s court order, Gaugh and Wilson issued a statement saying they would work on a “business solution” to the naming dustup.

“Our goal continues to be sharing the music and message of Sublime with all of our fans around the world. We intend to take the court’s advice and work on a business solution to this issue. We hope the estate follows suit so the music of Sublime can live on and be accessible to everyone.”

Of course, Nowell’s estate had a statement of its own to deliver.

“We are gratified the court ruled in our favor and found that Bud, Eric and Rome could not use the name Sublime without first obtaining permission from Brad’s heirs,” the statement read. “We believe this will help protect and preserve Brad’s musical legacy.”

youngster

Wow. Tell that to Queen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Alice in Chains, Journey, AC/DC, Van Halen, and all the other bands that have gone on to perform, some with much success, without their original lead singers.

Back_Pedal

cropduster82 wrote:

Wow. Tell that to Queen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Alice in Chains, Journey, AC/DC, Van Halen, and all the other bands that have gone on to perform, some with much success, without their original lead singers.

Bradley was the singer, guitarist, and main songwriter though. Bud and Gaugh were just the rhythm section.

mookeywrench

why not call themselves 5ublime?

or SubIime
or SUl3lime
or Sublime jr.
or Sublime-182
or Sublime 41

loopjd

It's about dang time they went away. I live in Long Beach, where they are from, and no one ever wants to shut up about them, how they were so unique because they played ska and occasionally pulled out a crappy thrash song. Being in High School, everyone I know thinks "Date Rape" is hilarious. I hate it, it's totally juvenile. I hear their last album was better, but after hearing the first one I couldn't bring myself to listen to them anymore. Interesting post, though, it seems like both sides have a point.

dcfaithful

loopjd wrote:

It's about dang time they went away. I live in Long Beach, where they are from, and no one ever wants to shut up about them, how they were so unique because they played ska and occasionally pulled out a crappy thrash song. Being in High School, everyone I know thinks "Date Rape" is hilarious. I hate it, it's totally juvenile. I hear their last album was better, but after hearing the first one I couldn't bring myself to listen to them anymore. Interesting post, though, it seems like both sides have a point.

I also think I hear way too much about Sublime...I can imagine what it's like in Long Beach... :roll:

Santeria has to be one of the most over-played songs in my book...

san pedro

Back_Pedal wrote:

cropduster82 wrote:

Wow. Tell that to Queen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Alice in Chains, Journey, AC/DC, Van Halen, and all the other bands that have gone on to perform, some with much success, without their original lead singers.

Bradley was the singer, guitarist, and main songwriter though. Bud and Gaugh were just the rhythm section.

wow! where do you get your info from? bud and gaugh ? it's bud and eric! you don't even have your facts straight. i didn't know that brad was a solo artist (with just a rhythm section) :roll: . i thought all three were SUBLIME (until brad od'd). i saw them at the smokeout fest and i liked what i saw and heard.

"I REFUSE TO HAVE A BATTLE OF WITS WITH AN UNARMED PERSON"

pandora

Sublime rules- why not just get permission and pay proceeds to his estate- he was awesome right?
In memory of...

Back_Pedal

san pedro wrote:

Back_Pedal wrote:

cropduster82 wrote:

Wow. Tell that to Queen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Alice in Chains, Journey, AC/DC, Van Halen, and all the other bands that have gone on to perform, some with much success, without their original lead singers.

Bradley was the singer, guitarist, and main songwriter though. Bud and Gaugh were just the rhythm section.

wow! where do you get your info from? bud and gaugh ? it's bud and eric! you don't even have your facts straight. i didn't know that brad was a solo artist (with just a rhythm section) :roll: . i thought all three were SUBLIME (until brad od'd). i saw them at the smokeout fest and i liked what i saw and heard.

"I REFUSE TO HAVE A BATTLE OF WITS WITH AN UNARMED PERSON"

First of all, I find it's more telling of you that you needlessly resort to personal insults to try and prove a point. Secondly, God forbid I forget someone's name; I follow a lot of bands and I don't necessarily keep track of every member of each band. I'm a music fan, not an encyclopedia. And finally, Nowell is credited for being the main writer on 15 out of 21 songs on 40 Oz. Freedom, and while I'm not sure of the writing credits on the other two albums, I'd say that's a pretty sizable chunk of songwriting (especially considering they only had three albums, and he wrote almost the entire debut).

Would Nirvana be Nirvana if they replaced Kurt with a new singer and guitarist? No, they wouldn't. If Brad was only Sublime's singer, then replacing him would still be an option, especially when keeping AiC's amazing new album in mind. However, when a person is a singer, writer, and main guitar player, it becomes a pretty ridiculous notion to try and continue the band under the same name.

san pedro

First of all, I find it's more telling of you that you needlessly resort to personal insults to try and prove a point. Secondly, God forbid I forget someone's name; I follow a lot of bands and I don't necessarily keep track of every member of each band. I'm a music fan, not an encyclopedia. And finally, Nowell is credited for being the main writer on 15 out of 21 songs on 40 Oz. Freedom, and while I'm not sure of the writing credits on the other two albums, I'd say that's a pretty sizable chunk of songwriting (especially considering they only had three albums, and he wrote almost the entire debut).

Would Nirvana be Nirvana if they replaced Kurt with a new singer and guitarist? No, they wouldn't. If Brad was only Sublime's singer, then replacing him would still be an option, especially when keeping AiC's amazing new album in mind. However, when a person is a singer, writer, and main guitar player, it becomes a pretty ridiculous notion to try and continue the band under the same name.[/quote]

i'm a MUSIC fan too. sorry if you felt personaly insulted by what i wrote in response to your post. how can you say that bud and eric were just a rhythm section? they were members of sublime just like bradley. they also have song writing credit for some of their more popular songs, such as: what i got, wrong way, santeria. they even played a new (unnamed) song at the smokeout fest, which sounded pretty good. so, from what i understand they are working on new material. i would go see them again regardless of what name they are playing under, because it's about the music, not a name.

SomethingCreative

cropduster82 wrote:

Wow. Tell that to Queen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Alice in Chains, Journey, AC/DC, Van Halen, and all the other bands that have gone on to perform, some with much success, without their original lead singers.

this would be more like the Smashing Pumpkins playing without Billy Corgan