randy-miramontez-shutterstock-com-2-
3 September 2015Trademarks

Creedence Clearwater Revival TM dispute moves to California

A trademark dispute involving former members of the US rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival has been transferred to a California court.

The dispute centres on claims that former member John Fogerty infringed the band’s trademark and has breached a 2001 agreement with his former band members over use of the band’s name.

The band owns a registered trademark for ‘Creedence Clearwater Revival’.

Creedence Clearwater Revival started recording albums in the late 1960s but broke up in 1972.

The band comprised of John Fogerty, Tom Fogerty, Stu Cook and Doug Clifford and were known for tracks including “Bad Moon Rising” and “Fortunate Son”.

Tom Fogerty died in 1990 and his right to the ‘Creedence Clearwater Revival’ trademark was passed on to his wife, Patricia Fogerty.

Five years later, Cook and Clifford started performing again under the name Creedence Clearwater Revisited.

In 1996, John Fogerty sought an injunction to stop the band members using the ‘Revisited’ name.

Although he was initially successful at the US District Court for the Central District of California, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the decision a year later in 1997.

Fogerty then agreed to settle with his former band mates and the record label Poor Boy Productions in 2001.

As part of the settlement, in exchange for allowing the band to perform under the name Creedence Clearwater Revisited, Fogerty would receive royalties from performances.

The terms of the settlement also clarified that the band would not license out the terms ‘Creedence’, ‘Creedence Clearwater’, or any other derivatives of the band’s name, to a third party without Fogerty’s permission.

But in a 2014 lawsuit filed at the US District Court for the District of Nevada, Poor Boy and the remaining members of the band sued Fogerty for trademark infringement because he allegedly used the band’s name in connection with his own solo performances.

Poor Boy has not paid royalties to Fogerty since 2011 after he slammed the use of the name Creedence Clearwater Revisited in an article published by ultimateclassicrock.com.

Fogerty told the website: “We had an agreement among ourselves way back in the day that we would never do such a thing ... using the name is sort of a sacrilege to what we believed when we were young”.

According to Poor Boy and the band, the interview was a breach of the 2001 agreement.

According to the lawsuit, Fogerty has demanded that he is paid royalties since 2011 and has threatened litigation of his own.

In the latest development in the case, Fogerty requested that the case be transferred to the California court. The court granted his request on August 26.

Judge Robert Jones, writing the summary, said: “The only allegations of defendant’s acts in Nevada are that he performed in Las Vegas in October 2014, but he is not alleged to have used the mark in connection with that performance.

“The only allegations or evidence of defendant having used the mark concern promotional materials for his performances in California, abroad, and in unspecified US locations, as well as in advertisements on the internet for various merchandise,” Jones concluded.

Already registered?

Login to your account

To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.

Two Weeks Free Trial

For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk