John
Fogerty has characterized the lawsuit recently filed
against him by his surviving former Creedence Clearwater
Revival bandmates as an effort to “stop me … from singing my songs,” but
plaintiffs Stu Cook and Doug “Cosmo” Clifford see things differently, and
they’re going public with their side of the story.
Cook and Clifford, who filed suit
along with the widow of Fogerty’s brother Tom, have issued a rebuttal to
Fogerty’s press release by putting out one of their own, which vows to “set the
record straight” and clear up their former partner’s “inaccurate statements in
the media regarding pending litigation” — chiefly by rejecting the notion that
they’d ever try and stop him from performing Creedence songs.
“We have never objected to John
Fogerty performing any song he ever wrote, or performing any song recorded by
Creedence Clearwater Revival. That idea is ridiculous,” reads the press release
in part. “Even when he refused to play those songs, and publicly called for a
boycott of CCR music, we encouraged him to perform them whenever and wherever
he wanted. The facts are that Mr. Fogerty, while proclaiming joyful rebirth in
the press, repeatedly has his lawyers threaten us with lawsuits and demand
unreasonable concessions of our rights. Last week, the threats and demands left
us with little doubt that a lawsuit would be filed by him against us for the
second time. This unfortunate situation required us to take unpleasant
preemptive legal action. This action is about the need to defend ourselves and
rights, Mr. Fogerty’s failure to perform contractual promises and unlicensed
uses of the trademark ‘Creedence Clearwater Revival.’ The trademark is not
owned by him, but by the Creedence Clearwater Revival Partnership. We have a
business relationship with him and, under prevailing circumstances, chose not
to be bullied.”
The longstanding antipathy between
Fogerty and the other members of Creedence is a matter of public record, dating
back to disagreements over artistic control during the group’s heyday and
continuing for decades. Fogerty famously refused to perform with Clifford and
Cook when CCR were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
1993, and their later decision to form a group called Creedence Clearwater
Revisited added to the rancor. No matter how this latest round shakes out, we
see plenty of billable hours in the future for both sides’ legal teams.
0 comentarios:
Publicar un comentario