GORGOROTH Guitarist Talks About Winning Court Battle Against Former Bandmates; Audio Available
March 19, 2009A new audio interview with GORGOROTH guitarist Infernus (real name: Roger Tiegs) conducted by Metalhead.ro is available for streaming at this location.
Infernus recently won a court battle against vocalist Gaahl and bassist King ov Hell over the rights to the GORGOROTH band name. According to a posting on Infernus' MySpace page, "The court has decided that King ov Hell's trademark registration of the band name GORGOROTH is NOT valid and shall therefore be deleted. The court states that King ov Hell and Gaahl excluded themselves from the band GORGOROTH when they tried to fire Infernus in October 2007. The court further states that Infernus cannot be excluded from GORGOROTH, unless he himself decides to quit."
Infernus filed a lawsuit against King ov Hell in September 2008 claiming that King (the sixth bass player in GORGOROTH's history) went behind his back in September 2007 and secretly applied for trademark protection of the GORGOROTH bandname and logo, which Infernus had been using since 1992.
King ov Hell (real name: Tom Cato Visnes) and vocalist Gaahl (real name: Kristian Espedal) released the following statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET regarding the outcome of their legal battle with Infernus:
"Regarding the recent court case over the use of the name GORGOROTH, Gaahl and King confirm that parts of the verdict have been decided and went in favor of Infernus. This is only a partial verdict on the case. Because of the complexity of this case, there will be further court hearings and the final verdict will be announced within a few weeks.
"The judge came to the conclusion that it is impossible to kick out an original member even if he doesn't contribute musically or lyrically. The judge also states that one can't kick an original member out of a band even if that member performs actions which are viewed as disrespectful towards promoters, session members and other working partners.
"Gaahl and King wish Infernus the best of luck using the banner of GORGOROTH on his art.
"Gaahl and King will still present the art they are known for creating in GORGOROTH albeit under another banner. The new name will be announced shortly."
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